Leaderboard

Finale: Build thread here:

Finally back again at the bench after 4 months. in past 2 weeks I was able to work on engines. I really like details provided in the kit, however I went extra mile to make the front part which will be visible as detailed as possible main parts glued together exhausts painted decent wash applied final results, quite happy wit the outcome thanks for looking jan

Hello! Here are some pics of model that was built last year, but was waiting for the right moment to come out. This is the well known Special Hobby kit, with Vallejo Model Air Vallejo e Mission Models paints. I want to leave a warm Thank You to a fellow Portuguese modeller - Paulo Lopes, for the inspiration provided by his work on this kit, which got me through - Obrigado! Here is a link for the detailed construction and painting process of the Buckeye. https://imodeler.com/2019/08/greek-master-special-hobbys-1-32-t-2-buckeye/

hi folks Thanks so much for all your contributions - it's what keeps threads like this alive - we all learn something new about an airframe, and if that happens, I have achieved a purpose in posting I discarded the cushion on the basis the pilot actually sat on a parachute pack which served the same purpose and in some ways I am glad as then the work on shaping the seat bottom can be seen.. I amanged to put myself out of action for a few weeks as I sliced my finger - not modelling but drying up a vegetable slicer - what a dumbo.. it gave me some time to do some design work that was overdue anyway and as I had been messing about with tiny bits of wire trying to do seat belts, I decided to create a small PE fret of seat belt parts, which ultimately grew as I went through the manual into an A4 fret with all sorts of other useful bits including window framing, gunsight parts, templates for the U/C doors and another set of panels that go around the exhausts as I want to try annealing them to get better curvature... ..that was about a weeks work... also renewed my Rhino 3D trial and finalised the mainwheel.. made the gunsight - its some kind of N3 type but not much reference on the net on this particular variant, but I did have a few good Lopes resto shots to base it on.. and I love this shot of the signal pistol - I have the mount in the fuselage wall, but not the pistol or the metal part it mounts to.. - I wasn't going to include it at all as the gun would be too hard for me to design, but had a brainwave that enabled it.. ..and here is the mount.. ..now for the brainwave - it appears 1/18 is the scale of collector soldiers, and a company on the internet does small arms for them so I bought a couple of .357 Magnums for $0.65c each - bit of modification and we have a flare pistol ..I only need the handle.. ..now for some parts that have been bothering me since I started - seat belts... when I did my Spitfire, they were the parts I was least happy with - made with ribbon, they looked a bit duff if you ask me.. after playing with different tapes & ribbon, I tried rolling some lead wire - it worked a treat, but was too narrow, so I cut some lead strips and rolled them out until they were the right size.. the fittings were all PE and it all seemed to work quite well.. ..they were primed, painted & washed & the paint scraped off the metal fittings - here before the hooking latch was added.. ..in place with the cushion, I am much happier with these than the Spit ..the cockpit is nearly ready to close up.. TTFN Peter

Dear LSP team, sharing photos of a completed 1/32 Sukhoi Su-25UBK Frogfoot from Trumpeter. The model is completed in a “what if” (fictional) scheme inspired by another Czech Air Force Su-25K Frogfoot number 9013 that sported the famous scheme during the 1990’s. The kit is built straight from the box with the following aftermarket items: Eduard Interior set, Quickboost Auxiliary Air Scoops. Paints used: Vallejo Model Air, Vallejo Model, Ammo of Mig, Mission Models. Weathering and washes: Ammo of MiG Washes, AK Interactive Washes, Oil Brusher by Ammo of MiG. Decals: National Insignia - Propagteam and Eduard, Stencils - from the kit, The Frog and other bits were self made custom decals printed on laser printer.

Something with a Polish accent this time. F-105D Polish Glider Set: Trumpeter 1:32 scale, model made as always straight from the box. The model is not simple to build.

Hi all, Here my last built, a French Navy Seafire XV. I used Revell Spitfire MkIX and AA resin conversion. It's not an easy built but it's the only way to have a Seafire XV. I used Barracuda cockpit, seat and acces door : wonderful resin!!! I used Tamyia and Gunze for Sky and Gunze and M Paint for extra dark sea grey. Marking are painted (tanks Maketar) except for anchors which came from old decals. I hope you will like it! See you soon for a new built!

woohoo - big day -the cockpit is in the airframe ..put together in a jig,, and now a permanent fixture.. ..with the skin bits.. ..lots to do from here, but it's a big milestone for me TTFN Peter

Took some iPhone shots today. The majority of the hydraulic lines are complete for the top of the nose gear well. I’ve added a wire bundle, that several hydraulic tubes will route over, was installed. These tubes required a number of T fittings and check valves to be printed up and pieced together. It’s not an impressive number of tubes installed since my last installment but between fiddly construction and hours of staring at photos to understand where everything connects they consumed that time span. Lastly the torque tube that connects the aft doors to their actuator was installed. There are some hydraulic tubes that will route over this tube necessitating it’s installment now. On to the photos... More soon.... Thanks for checking in! Timmy!

Hi Blackbetty, The exhaust almost clears the brass tube and as the resin part is quite thick, it requires a small modification to make it fit properly. Hi Jackman, The Zacto intake is an exceptional piece of aftermarket and fits the kit nicely. Here is a pic from the front looking in. There is a small amount of sanding required to make the parts blend together, but the join is within easy reach of a sanding stick. It is hard to see where the join is as the parts fit together very well. A pic looking down as requested. Once again, fit is excellent and minimal blending will be required. Some more work. The large avionics access panel forward of the windshield requires some work. I am pretty sure this has been made to be posed open as it appears Trumpeter has missed a small feature. There is a big step where it meets the windshield. A straight edge confirms that they missed the small kink upward where the trailing edge of the access panel meets the windshield area. I cut a square from plastic card and superglued it in between the trailing edge and the first rivet line. I then back filled the edges with my preferred mix of superglue and talcum powder. I use this mix as once set, it sands exactly like plastic and it is very easy to blend without shrinkage. Sanded smooth. A couple of coat of SMS primer, which is an acrylic lacquer paint with that has a fine talc additive that makes it excellent for filling blended areas such as this. Also visible in this pic are the thin panel catches made from plastic card that were not provided in the kit, and also i have deepened the small cooling vent under the avionics bay, using a microchisel.

Wow. Just got to Kalamazoo. I’d never have believed it, but she’s awake and lucid and off the vasopressor drip. Her lactic acid was >20 yesterday this time, which is why I decided I needed to get on a plane NOW. About an hour ago that was down to 3.2. Her RN and I were saying neither of us has ever seen anyone bounce back from a lactic acid of >20 before. Still a long way to go, but she said just now she wants to live a while longer. Energizer bunny, I’m telling ya. To have come from Rutherford County, NC white trash dirt farmers, she’s a pretty freaking amazing lady. My mom started, built, and ran her own independent financial planning firm after a long career as a credit union manager. She “retired” five days after her 77th birthday, and after she “retired” she started two non-profits to do backpack lunches for the needy school kids in town, and another called Bridges Out of Poverty. She’s organized a youth theater production that’s going on its third year, and has a life of its own now. She knows just about everybody in a three county radius, and everybody loves Nancy. Even when she comes to them with her hand out to get money and donations for her charities. Thanks for all the positive vibes - they help!

evening you fine fellows thanks for stopping by & chiming in - makes my day to see people like my model Umm planet Aircorps Kev - I spend so much time buried in drawings on their website trying to understand stuff I might as well live there... Hi Craig - the metal box is basically a cube of ali cut from a bit of scrap I had lying around - so no seams I would love to see any pics you have from Oshkosh, I don't have many of the finished aircraft, mine are mainly the resto shots.. Don't laugh, I nearly did, then thankfully I saw a picture of it wired up - ergo no label Thanks Jay, it's so nice to have someone who has done all this before as my wingman I did start thinking I would vacform it, but after my usual failings I did almost what you said - pane of glass by pane of glass as will be seen in a minute ..I made up a new master plug to correct some shortcomings including not leaving overhangs at the back as can be seen sat on the wing - I used one of the pulls to just fill in some of where I have been chopping the fuselage about as I was starting to lose my bearings.. this is simply plumbers ali tape on the cockpit glass and a bit of litho to force the P40 filler into a nice profile of the fuselage.. ..I then used the mould/plug as a basis to just form the windshield panels out of PETG one at a time. The method was to immerse in boiling water and once soft put on a 2 inch thick bit of foam and just press down until it hardened again. Without moving I then scribed the reference of some of the straight parts of the mould so I knew exactly how it sat on the mould.. ..these blobs are soon turned into the panels themselves as can be seen at the bottom - i removed a tiny strip of the protective covering around the edges so I can assemble it, but still protect it - the fact there is virtually no aggressive heat in this process means they will be crystal clear ..sides are on the mould and the other parts coming together... the black sharpie edging means when you assemble it there is a visible trick where the thickness of the plastic just disappears.. ..CA was carefully wicked into joints as it was held on the mould and presto, a windshield... I also formed the rear former from brass around the mould and with a bit of brute force & ignorance.. ..as this bit starts to come together, I need to drop in the instrument panel so I can build up the coaming around it and ultimately the windshield - as such the parts were assembled .... dummy instruments & bits were added to the back to keep it three dimensional.. ..and dry fitted in place... ..I have also started to form the coaming - tricky as it is inside the windshield so needs to almost touch it all the way round, but also be a rigid shape to go around the panel - you might be able to just see it here.. thats it for now, take care y'all TTFN Peter

Hi folks been a while - it's got to a really tough bit of the build... that is really interesting & a bit worrying Kevin ... I guess I will just have to see what happens - the etch is nickel silver so i guess they may react one day - fingers crossed I get lucky so, what's been happening... I got the cockpit pod assembled in a jig and got it in the airframe... ..the external sidewalls of the fuselage have also been added & faired in.. ..I wanted to get the rear window area sorted so I started by making a plug for vacforming but once I had a go with my usual dismal success at vacforming PETG (I get distortion etc) I realised the curves are not compound really so I just bent some sheet in boing water and made a slit along the top rear edge so I could pinch it in a bit to get the upper profile.. ..the windows were then set out and the covering removed - I had an etched template I did that matches the framing I also had done as these are really difficult to do freehand.. ..also made the inner skins and the front former which were painted black on the outside & green on the inside.. ..then added to the interior (carefully!) - the seam doesn't matter as it will be covered, and the little metal brace at the back is so far down the fuselage it cannot be seen.. ..there are some gubbins on the roof of this area so these were made up in metal & plastic and wired up.. ..then as I was about to add the assembly and fair it all in, I thought I had better get the front windshield fuselage area done as if there is any sanding, all the dust will get in the rear cockpit and I will never get it out.. ..I had drawings - you can see the windshield drops down each side of the upper curve of the fuselage and actually the armoured glass panel goes right through this area.. ..I made up templates as there is so much three dimensional geometry going on it is really (and I mean really) difficult to fabricate.. ..one shows where the IP coaming is in relation to the windsheild, the long one is just the overall upper profile with a vertical where the rear of the front windshield is.. ..I made up many more templates and plugs for moulding the windshield & coaming - I also spent days trying to figure out why things were not lining up before I realised the top of the fuselage was very lop-sided so the half-round template is to correct that.. ..one of the coaming vacforms - this is wrong but each tester gets me closer... one thing I am struggling with is on many cockpit pics the panel does not look set back very far, but every factory drawing has it set quite deep - it has to be deep as that is where the panel goes in the cockpit pod, but it is a bit of optical trickery I am struggling with.. ..so some overall shots of the mock-up windshield and the rear glazed area - once I get the plug for the windshield I will probably just plunge mould PETG panels in boiling water as this completely preserves the optical clarity and assemble individual panels to make it up.. lots and lots of fettling & thinking to be done in this bit... ..back when I have some meaningful progress TTFN Peter

Some additional closeup pictures of the diorama... Thanks for looking... Cheers: Kent

August 13/19 A brief update. With summer here it’s hard to find time or the motivation to model, but I have accomplished a few things. First of all, despite my prior comments about spraying this model with semi-gloss lacquer to knock done the shine a bit, I’ve decided to keep it shiny after all. I have many pics of VFC-13 Gloss Black F-5E/N’s and they are all super shiny, even from a distance. The next task which I’ve been dreading is decals. I’m pretty good at decals and have even written a fairly detailed tutorial on this step, but I had many problems with this build. For those interested in that tutorial, it is here: How To Apply Decals Now the decal problems before I even started: 1. Nobody makes decals for VFC-13 Saints F-5’s entirely in red, which are on all of the black Aggressors. The only red decals I could find are for VFC-111 Sundowners, and not all of them are red. 2. The VFC-111 Sundowner decals that available are from the kit or the OOP Two Bobs 32-040 decals. Thanks to “Dragon” (Mike) who sent me some of the red decals he wasn’t using, I had a set of both (thanks again Mike!). However, the Two Bobs decals are a dull red and not bright red as they should be. The kit decals, on the other hand, are very thick and hard to 3. No decals of the US Insignia emblem are made in red- or at least as far as I can tell. So I decided to go with mostly the kit decals when color was important, Two Bobs decals when it didn’t, a set of Profimodeller decals (32-286) for the red star on the tail and the big red and yellow nose number and finally Maketar insignia paint masks to finish the job. This results in a bit of a “Whatif” VFC-111 Gloss Black F-5N that doesn’t exist, but unless you’re an expert on these jets you probably wouldn’t notice. On the tail, the Profimodeller, red star went on easily and the thin decal film blended into the rivet detail with ease. The big red “NAVY” decal; from the kit was quite thick, but the bright red color won the day. The other smaller kit decals nearby were crude and I found that many of them were off register, revealing a white rim around each decal. These were torn off and replaced with Two Bobs decals, even if the red wasn’t very bright. Similar story up front, with the big Profimodeller “01” decal, while the balance were Two Bobs decals. NOTE: The Profimodeller decals come with replacements for the "01" decal, which don't have yellow in the interior of the "0", so use them instead. One very characteristic feature of most F-5’s is the pronounced dashed border around the two “No Step” areas on the wing, especially directly above the landing gear well. With no red decals available, I decided to paint them instead, along with the Maketar paint masks for the two insignias on the intakes and one each for the top and bottom of the wings. This was probably the most involved masking job I’ve ever done, so I sure hope it was worth it! Make sure you keep the masking tape off existing decals or they will likely lift when the tape is removed. BTW, the VFC-111 decal is Two Bobs, because the kit one was terrible, while the "E" is the kit one. I then painted these areas with Model Master “Chrysler Engine” bright red enamel (#2732), which closely matches the “NAVY” red decal. I thinned the paint quite a bit with Mr. Leveling Thinner #400 to make sure that the edge of the tape demarcation lines were sharp, but you can’t load up the first coat too much or you will get paint bleed underneath the tape. Unfortunately this gloss paint takes a long time to dry, so you need to be patient (which I’m not). I was also building the CATM-9M missile for the starboard wingtip and the TCTS pod (AN/ASQ-T50 V2) port side wing, as found in all recent F-5 Navy Aggressors. Detailed pics of these pods can be found in Jake Melampy’s Super Hornet Guide on Pages 165 and 166. Building the CATM-9M missile was easy, using the Zactomodels AIM-9L/M resin replacements, which I always marvel over every time I build one. This missile, along with the other Zactomodels missiles, are the very best resin kits I have ever used on any model- period! The super thin wings, which are surprisingly strong, and the fins that have to be glued on, make painting these details very easy. After using Two Bobs decals, they really look the part: The TCTS pod was another story. Although there are TACTS and ACMI pods out there in 1/32, none of them are for CUBIC pods or TCTS pods and none of them have the much-needed ballasts to add weight to the wingtip to replicate the weight of an AIM-9 missile. After building the beautiful CATM-9 missiles, I needed something that was fairly accurate and higher quality than the resin pods that are available. If any of you resin guys are listening, there’s a huge market for these pods, especially if they are high quality! So what to do? I had a pretty good CUBIC pod made by a friend for my CF-18B model years ago, that has many similar features of what I was looking for. This pod needs 3 ballasts for the F/A-18 wingtip application, while the TCTS pod I need has only two ballasts. Fortunately, this pod was only held on with pins, so I cannibalized it for this build instead! Modifying it heavily, I created something close to what I wanted with the middle ballast removed, but the rear ballast could not be moved forward a bit without harming the pod, so I left it as is. All painted up with more Two Bobs decals (which are really for an ACMI TACTS pod), it looks pretty close to the real deal. The blue band was painted on, since the Two Bobs blue band decals are always too dark. Note that the antenna probes on the head bend backwards slightly like the real deal. Note that both pods have pins for easy insertion into the wingtip launchers- or future models! That’s it for another week or two while I finalize the decal painting and many other small details. Cheers, Chuck

Thanks! I’ve pushed on and I’ve pre shaded and highlighted- it may be a waste of time as the top coat will be so dark, but I’ll build it up in thin layers and see how I go! The engine is only placed on and the wing is just resting - to see what she’ll look like... Guy

Time to take a little break from tubing! Here is the Weapon Main Unit, part of the control of the five stores hard points. It' s a good warm up for the cockpit detailing to come. The main box was printed along with a block of switches and knobs. The clear cover was cut from Evergreen clear 0.010" styrene and scored and folded to it final shape. The upper portion masked and sanded to create the frosted border. Fairly simple paint job, black body, aluminum wire connections, switches and cover latches and dark grey wiring boots. After a coat a Future decals were applied and a little thinned oil paint was used to pick out details and add some grime. Finally a coat 50/50 flat and gloss lacquer to unify the finish and the cover was attached. Plumbing is about half done so that's next.... More soon and thanks for checking in! Timmy!

I’ve had time to put a bit of colour on the cockpit, I think it is almost done but may add a bit of chipping. I think the green is a little green but it’s the mix Tamiya recommend in their mustang kit, if I do another I may use Mr color h58 which looks a better colour. So far the kit is a pleasure to build. There are a few frustrations like the engine core and the fuselage frame behind the cockpit but nothing that can’t be fixed. Cheers. Matt

OK, so I guess many of you, especially from the States, already have had this 'experience'. But being a bit sidelined here in Scandinavia, getting a close encounter with a real living 4 engine bomber, is a rare treat. On friday, B-17G 'Sally B' flew in from Duxford to be part of this years Danish Airshow and of course I had to come and meet 'her'. Please bear with me, I just had to share this truly awesome experience! Engine startup, wow what a sound! Nice atmosphere: A group of reenactors with Jeep's in front of 'Sally B'. Fun fact: The preservation society keeping 'Sally B' in the air is headed by danish woman named 'Elly'- Ellinor Sallingboe, wife of late aviator Ted White. In 1979 Elly Sallingboe and Ted White formed B-17 Preservation to operate and raise funds to keep the last re- maining B-17 in the UK flying as the USAAF WW II Memorial Flight. My favorite 'girls' - Miss Pick Up & Sally B 'Sally B rolling in from a very nice late evening airshow. Sally B Cheers: Kent

Hasegawa ST32 homemade mask colours Gunze C Eduard interier photoetche homemade cast epoxy windscreen /it is not good to step on the clear sprue /

This is 1/32 Hasegawa Fw 190 F8 with the markings of "Yellow 14" W.Nr. 584592 from SG2 or SG10 . This F8 was abandoned at Neubiberg Germany in May 1945. Cockpit enhanced by MDC Luftwaffe Instrument dials decals and AML seat. I have used HD F8 propeller and Quickboost Exhaust set. And wheels are from Eagle Parts. Paints: Gunze acrylics and Alclad lacquers. Decals are from my spare box except for custom made "Yellow 14" and "Bar".

Thanks Guy's - So this build is finally coming to an end. A preview shot of the finished diorama. I will be taking more photo's the coming days... Cheers: Kent

my last buit, a kit that requires a little patience for assembly enjoy : voila voila

Thought I would do a dress rehearsal with the components that I have been completing , I'm really happy with the way the intakes have come out.

So, I think I’ve just about finished the engine! I painted all the components separately, then pieced it all together - this ends up being a serious chunk of plastic! The fit is super tight, not in a bad way, in fact in all just clicks together. I hardly used any glue at all. It is, however, a complex structure and some thought and dry runs don’t go amiss. The wiring was easier than I imagined, as the pipe work is very well detailed in the instructions (and colour coded), even giving you the lengths you need to cut for each section. They advise the use of 0.7mm (22 SWG) copper wire. I used coloured Artistic Wire to this diameter and it worked just fine. The holes are all there ready to accept the wire. This is even an improvement on the Tamiya kit for the Corsair - same engine near enough, where it was a pain in the **** to fix the wires to the central section. But no such issues here! An over spray of a warm brown wash tied it all together. Hats off to Airfix for this section. Guy And a point for the multiple sections of pipe - it’s worth noting which are which during painting, as they all look very similar! I used my Gisbod Parts Separating Device (Patent applied for)...

It's pretty low on the list since Eduard already released a set. I'll consider both of these, though I glanced through my Tomcat references and don't really have good enough references for either. They are made to fit the Trumpeter kit. I did set a pair on the Tamiya kit and it looks like they might fit with a little work. To keep the price down I decided to just fix the horrible forward section. I will be starting a thread in the vendors forum in a few days.

Fliegerhorst Grove - May 1945. Arado Ar 234B-2 'Fernaufklärer' (Photo reconnaissance) Arado Ar 234B-2, (Wk. Nr. 140467), 8H+BH 1(F)/33, This Aircraft was flown by Oberleutnant Ulrich Planck on one of the last recon- naissance missions over British territory on 4th April 1945. This was almost certainly the last Luftwaffe mission over East Yorkshire, possibly over the British mainland at all, in World War II. As the Germans retreated in the final days of WW2, the Arado's of 1(F)/33) were relocated from Wittmundhafen to Schleswig. On 4th May 1945 Lt. Planck flew 8H+BH from Schleswig to 'Fliegerhorst Grove'. At 8.35pm on May 4th 1945 the German troops in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and Denmark surrendered. On 5th of May Lt. Planck departed from Grove to Stavanger-Sola (Norway) in Arado Ar 234B-2 8H+DH. German forces in Norway didn't capitulate before 8/9 May 1945. 8H+BH was captured at Grove by British troops in May 1945. Fly Models Arado Ar 234 B-2, Revell German Truck Type 2,5-32, Zoukei-Mura Power Supply Cart + various figures and bicycle. Jumo engines from Trumpeter Me 262 kit. Scratch built 'Portalkran', cameras

hello all, work started on the frames under vehicle deck, most of them are recktangle of shape, with curved frames towards stem and stern. all the frames glued in place work until now a close up of the ladder rungs one of the water tight door on vehicle deck while everything is drying I started on the stern with anchor support enjoy, Rammstein

OK. after a week of mostly work, I finally got the main paint laid down. Beware, there is touch up to do as tis plane has a few raised bits that defied the Oramask 810's ability to hold firm. I only had two instances of paint lift, and both occurred on the periods at the bottom of the exclamation points on the underside. Thanks for looking! Gaz

Thanks very much for your input Daxspapa. The issue of the map case was pointed out to me as well on my Facebook page so I had to fix it. I was initially a little perplexed as to why it was depicted like that as well. I was asked by TTail whether I was going to make this a RHAW equipped jet. I haven’t settled on a particular aircraft yet as Ronald won’t have access to his log books for another couple of months, but I posed him the question anyway and this is what he wrote back to me. Eric: For most of the year I was in Vietnam, our unit's aircraft did not have RHAW. However, during the last half of my tour, some of the aircraft were modified to include RHAW. In other words, sometimes we flew RHAW equipped aircraft, and sometimes not. It is highly unlikely that the aircraft I flew on the mission in question was RHAW equipped since I arrived in Vietnam in April of 1968 and the mission took place in June. By the end of my tour in April of 1969, most of our aircraft were RHAW equipped. At this stage I will keep the model non RHAW equipped, so the equipment on the instrument panel coaming will stand as per the AIRES set. I added the various handles from plastic rod and painted them yellow with black stripes. I then closed up the forward fuselage. The kit provided nose weight is a nice touch. The picture highlights the excellent fit of the Zactomodels nose. The Aires cockpit tub fit is excellent and did not require too much modification of the kit parts to get it to fit. I have dry fitted the part under the windshield and the part behind the pilot seat. Starting to come together nicely.

It's done. And it's a good as we might expect from a model first produced almost 50 years ago. (Documentation contained in the box indicated that this particular model might be more than 40 years old.) And for my next trick! ----- Not actually sure yet. I still have another copy of that 1/20 Cessna SkyHawk.

This is my Tamiya P-51 converted into the Reno racer "Bardahl Special". I scratch built the rear cockpit removing all surplus equipment including the fuel tank. I also removed all armament, and used a propeller from a Bearcat to create a P-51H propeller as used on this airframe. AMS resin drop tanks are used for the 150 gallon tanks that Bardahl carried during the race to Reno. Decals are from Draw Decals. I have another set of racer decals reroute since I enjoyed this build so much.

evening folks had a few days off so here we go again Craig - those pictures are incredible - I mean truly incredible! thank you so much, there are many, many details I can now see, not least of which id that aluminium stamping - I won't be going that far though.... had I known I might have done some decals, but the thought of all that carrier film decals probably wouldn't work - rub down would, but as far as I can tell from when I did my Spitfire they are VERY expensive to have made.. ..I think the light alloy piant stuff is some sort of anti corrosion - I likely won't be doing that either.. one thing has me baffled.. this is not period is it? ..I think I can see 'Garmin' on one of them so I assume it's some modern bit of kit - it's sure not in the manual (nor are the fittings..) so, the Instrument Panel coaming - something looking so simple is anything but... - lets take a look.. complex shape that forms to an angular shape around the IP, see those air vents - there are 4 - two at the sides for the side windows, two at the front for the windshield - also there are two handholds, and a big rubber tube / impact strip along the front edge to protect the pilot... ..more on those vents & hand holds.. ..this is version 4 of my vacfrom mould - it needs to fit the IP and fit in the windshield glazing almost touching at all points so has taken a while to get right.. ..I pulled a copy in black plastic for no other reason than it was all I had in the right thickness... all the bits & bobs were fashioned from plastic from the drawings - the vents from card with a strip of litho & rod fittings, the hand holds, plunge moulded... at the back are two holes for a landing gear down light and a reset button.. ..painted bronze green & detailed - the rubber is heat shrink tube, slit, kinked to get a flat and coaxed into shape, the gunsight mount is PE and the two holes have been filled with their bits from my box of watch spares.. ..and dry fitted ..I also made up all the innards for the windshield, including the armoured glass mount (it will be two bits of glass laminated but hopefully will work..) and some inner framing I will cut to fit - the Xtracolour enamel I used is still drying - seems to be 12+ hours so I don't know if it's the levelling thinner I used or what, but I will have to wait until tomorrow to carry on TTFN Peter

hello all, In march I started on a Landing ship medium in scale 1/35. dimensions of a LSM lenght 203'6'' or 62,027 metres, the beam is 24'6'' or 10,515 metres. In scale 1/35 this will be 1m 772 x 30cm. These photo's are of the vehicle deck. vehicle deck and the lower part of the LSM next are some photo's of the bridge, with the different platforms and the windows drilled, I used a drainpipe for this I also placed a WT door I placed the walls of vehicle deck with water tight doors and ladder rungs next photo's are of how it all looks like , looks more and more of a LSM, work under vehicle deck is done enjoy, rammstein

In keeping with the current trend of companies announcing kits after deciding to start designing the CAD , AFTER THEY HAVE COMPLETED THE LAST 2 KITS THEY ANNOUNCED 5 YEARS AGO , and companies generally announcing vapourware, i thought i would announce the new kits my company will be releasing, after i form the company, which will require me winning 5 million quid on the lottery.. 1 year after i win the lottery and form my new company i will release in 1/24 Sea Fury Swordfish Corsair In 1/32, Invader marauder Stirling anyway, something for you to look forward too, ................they should be out sometime before a few of the current in development kits.......

I’d love to say I was that clever Adam! But no. To be honest, there’s quite a bit of negativity towards the stressed skin effect , but having handled it close up over the last few weeks - I really like it, I think it’s very well done, and I don’t really see the uniformity of it, the fuselage in particular is very random and convincing to my eye? I think it’s great! Yep, you can see all my mistakes in full technicolour Matt! Talking of which, I have given it the first couple of (thin) coats (about 50% thinners in fact) of the Mr Color Blue and I’m actually very pleased so far.. all the pre painting showing through nicely. My plan next is to overcoat it with MRP Sea Blue, which is the correct, darker midnight blue, hopefully still leaving the pre shade subtly showing through. The Mr Color Blue looks great, but I think it’s too light to be accurate. I haven’t seen any pictures of the real aircraft faded like the Corsairs? They all seem uniformly dark blue. Which is fine, but I reckon that would look a bit boring on a scale model. The MRP paints are very translucent, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a balance between the two...

ARCHER rivets to the rescue !!! another oddity for Hobbyboss, they did a nice job of putting the raised rivets on the mid-section of the fuselage which can be seen when you look at photos of the real thing. What's confusing to me is why they only put about half of them on the model and the ones that are missing are the most visible ??? Also they didn't put any on the ventral tail fin so I'll be riveting that as well. I used the Archer "O" scale, 7/8" dia. heads , they're size and spacing is really close to the kits rivets.

The summer break is coming to an end. It's time to wrap up this one. Truck is done. Extra pieces of equipment for the diorama: Power Supply Cart, Fire Extinguisher, Compressor, Bicycle and Toolbox. The finished base with heather added to the grass area's. Cheers: Kent

As a side note, too, this post comes with some sobering news. When I left you last (July of 2017), my Grandfather was still alive. He ended up passing away on December 24th, 2017. I traveled to PA for his funeral, and while I was there, something fascinating happened. I came into possession of close to 1200 photo negatives from his time in WWII, to include training before the war, and his time in the occupation forces afterwards. But I needed to get them developed... I passed them along to an outfit in Canada (who's name escapes me, sorry), that does photo restorations for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. They did an amazing job with the photos, which included, to my amazement, about 15-20 additional photos of the crash of 44-6888: 0568.L.033 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.034 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.058 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The big gem from the photos? A really majestic photograph of my Grandfather taken during WWII, under the engine of a B-17. It was a fitting tribute to the man who's inspired this build for me, and I will leave you what that photo to enjoy and soak in. 26241290_10210747976678803_569739957_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Pix from Ernie Ling

Hi folks I’ve finished this tonight and have taken photo’s in the garage under LED lighting as it’s way too gusty outside. The story of this started for me as a kid spotting at Boscombe Down during any holiday. I vividly remember the Tornado there and it flying locally and over the ranges at Larkhill. Fast forward to modern times and information becomes available that the aircraft I was watching was XZ630. This was the 12th pre-production aircraft so wasn’t the final build standard. These aircraft were given “P” numbers and thus was known as P.12. The kit - I really only build 1/32 kits so when Revell released the kit, the spark happened. I gathered the Airies pit, Airbrake housing and Paragon flaps and slats, finally Paragons access ladder. I started this kit just under a year ago with a 4 month break to do a commission build of a 212. The cockpit was constructed but back dated by removing some switches and putting blank panels in. The ejection seat straps on the front seat were placed over the headbox waiting for an engineer to dive in and start her up. The resin airbrake housing was fitted by cutting out the kit part and fitting the resin replacement. A weather seal was added around the airbrake housing as I noticed it in reference photo’s. The resin exhaust were constructed and fitted but it looks like Airies didn’t plan on you using both as there is interference and the cans needs cut down and moved aft of the airbrake housing. The fin was modified as you’ll notice the lack of fillet below the rudder. The vortex generators were removed as it was clean but later they were retrofitted. I did learn that the RWR housing are different shapes for each country. The kit ones are flared outwards at the extreme tips which are for German aircraft, so these were thinned down for an RAF version. The tailplane leading edges were straightened removing the kink and reprofiling the leading edge. The intakes were modified in that there is a hump profile on the upper surface which was removed on production aircraft. There are also 3 visible vertical struts on the rear of the intake outlet. I scratch built the open panels for the ground power and comms on the lower side, down near the gun ports which you’ll notice have been flushed as this aircraft at the time didn’t have them fitted. The wing glove was a poor fit and the Paragon wasn’t brilliant, so I put backing plastic and on the inside, filled it with Plasto filler and pressed the kit part onto the wet filler. Once it was tacky I used a scalpel and created the groove and let it set. I wanted something different so I wanted to try Engine ground run guards. So through help on here I managed to get a couple of photo’s and ordered some mesh from “the mesh company”. With my bending tool and purely by eye I knocked up these, which look ok. I then added the strengthening ribs and sprayed then red. The period of the aircraft dictated wrap around camo with the tri-country roundels on the fin. The Antenna colours on the fin are a mottled brown colour which was actually quite easy to replicate. The Fin staining was Tamiya weathering pastels, the Green/Grey is Xtracrylix which was Windsor and Newton gloss varnished then decals applied and then Matt W&N varnished. The artistic license bit is the refuelling probe. This can be fitted with the guards but I couldn’t find a photo of it extended, but I wanted to add that key bit of detail. Photography is not my thing and there’s not much more to be said!. C65C9732-232F-4C09-824F-5F2DD69EF3F4 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 07A2E7B2-7E3F-4959-BA7E-E437194D5C05 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr D71BFE01-ED62-4B60-A5F4-BED2580249B2 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr D957F858-FCC5-4536-94CB-F4EF74AD2915 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr BC196558-7E01-4A0A-97C1-CE2E61D21B8C by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 1A87F4B5-1FF1-4B69-9F04-9FE6CFE70B78 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr D6330E9C-DBB8-46E6-87F5-72DC24FB40FB by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 46F17DB6-85E6-424F-B5A7-60A02E455FA9 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 8947E4B8-7DF6-47E7-94E2-2B1622143BD5 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr B57C25D2-1685-4EB3-8242-55B6D1528EFB by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr F4345F25-BB41-42F7-A355-107049E56782 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 34EF27F8-221D-49D7-BBDF-F379E5923D18 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 70D0A82E-928E-4E7D-A6AE-A35773B37C2D by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr AFDCB954-6B56-44E7-AF7F-39E9CB21CA5D by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 7F6598C3-BBA6-4B22-8963-9834923A6009 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr F5EDCE22-EF2F-4266-9192-56C40188FD5A by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr 28D4A7DC-0280-41FB-888E-4163154CA787 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr ABC9C2AD-0FB0-4285-8060-936C6989DE94 by Stephen Priestley-Dean, on Flickr Any questions please get in touch. The kit is going to the Boscombe Down Museum in a couple of weeks. Steve.

Thanks, perhaps you could contact Airfix and get them to send cash - that would be great I wasn’t a Hellcat fan either, I just got the kit as a sample - but it’s totally grown on me, I’ve really enjoyed it. I didn’t fancy the dark blue finish either but it looks great on this size model. The stressed skin really gives the uniform finish some interest! I got the masks today from Top Notch and have just finished painting the markings. They are great and really easy to use as there’s only one colour to mask. Guy In progress!

Hi Gents, Here is my latest bild - I-16 type 24 from Special Hobby..It was not a simple build,it's an older short run kit which means many adjustments such as adding detail to the surface, etc.,etc...I used my favorite Tamiya Acrylic paints for spraying camouflage,and Humbrol paints for coloring small details in cockpit.All markings are sprayed,the Gvardia badge and stencils on rudder are decals,that I drew myself.I made the weathering with filters from heavily diluted Tamiya acrylic paints,watercolor pencils and AMMO pigments..As the final varnish I used water based Clear Humbrol Satin..Next build - I-16 type 17 from the same Producer.. Enjoy!

Thank you for sharing. Nice and clear shots. this one is absolutely mind-blowing

Finally got around to working on the HUD display, the kit part is molded in one piece clear, I thought the lenses were far too thick so I cut the support frames from the lenses and sanded the inside smooth then took a razor saw and put slots about half way into the frames where the glass lenses would live and made new ones from .010 petg.

Good evening guys, Some progress to show... First of all i added the MW50 boost pressure gauge on the left side of the cockpit, as Vincent pointed out... I also received Alley cat's correct gun covers... Before start dealing with painting the cockpit i sanded down as much as i could the exhaust covers... I have to paint the exhaust before gluing them from inside to the fuselage sides. Thats a bit of a problem during the painting process, but nothing that cant be done. and time to paint the cockpit...First i applied a coat of ak aluminium, chipping medium and finally gunze's RLM66. Waiting for the parts to dry i dealt with the instrument panel. I chose the resign one from eduard. First i carefully painted the dial details, then i punched the dial faces from airscale's exeptional decals and finally i added small clear sheet faces on top. Little light wash and dry brush and here it is next to yahu's one...i like it better! Next on detailing the cockpit.... Excellent Radub's seat belts... First run for ak's real colors gloss varnish...really excellent staff (thinned with leveling thinner, true opponent for my favourite X-22 from tamiya) Wash, weathering, matt varnish and final weathering... And finally the exhausts, first shot with alclad exhast manifold and then treated with rubb n' buff spanish copper, finally little black with mig's black smoke weathering pigments That;s all folks, hope you like it... Next with cockpit installation.... All the best, John

Well I'm calling it finished, its a brilliantly engineering kit but my building practices have been poor. For me the model is to big for my limited modelling space, i stuffed the decals completly, my surface prep must have been poor, i'm disapointed in my paint finish the large upper wing panels are differant colours and finishes because i painted them individually and didnt blend the finishes. I dont like the patterns on my worn surface area.......etc etc etc I had really high hopes of a showpiece model but alas my skills were not up to the job, I've displayed it under my fish tank and not on my main display...ah well there always another kit to improve again, thanks for looking and the comments. Ps I started a Tamiya tank 1/35 haha

Not much work done, finally got around to making some landing lights for the nose gear today.

The Japanese "approach" to the war is different from the Western "approach". In almost every way, it is similar to the Romanian attitude. When I grew up in Romania, no one spoke about the Romanian involvement on the Eastern Front. Romania was the second largest Axis combatant on the Eastern Front, with large contingents and equipment and hundreds of thousands of casualties, prisoners and injured. Almost every family in Romania was affected. On 23 August 1944, Romania switched sides, left the Axis and joined the Allies. When the war ended, with the Russians now based in Romania, it became a "bad idea" to mention the war against the Russians. When we studied history in school, all we ever learned was about what followed after 23 August. Romania was behind the iron curtain. Romanians could only access heavily-censored history. Stuck behind the Iron Curtain, Romanians were fed an altered version of history. Western historians had limited access to info also. So, as a result, the huge efforts and sacrifices made by the Romanian army were completely ignored and eventually forgotten. That is why all my decals are about Romanian aircraft, so they would not be forgotten. However, (and this is where I was going with this) people in Romania still spoke about the war effort. In family chats, inside the house, I could hear hints, whispers, indications that my grandfather fought in Russia. "He was injured in the war". "Where?" "Ah... somewhere out East. Shhhh, don't tell anyone." I never met my grandfather, he died the year before I was born. A friend of my grandfather's was still around, friend of the family. After he died I found a photo of him in an infantry Captain uniform. "When was this?" "Ah...the war... Stalingrad, I think, with your grandfather". "What was he doing there? Was he lost?" "Ah... No... He fought there." "Why?" "You know, the war..." The grandfather of one of my friends in school was missing a leg and walked in crutches. The official story was that he lost it in a vague "accident". My mother let it slip one day that he was actually "injured in the war", that he actually had some "big medals" and even "spent some time in a Russian camp". And so on...in drips and drops, the truth comes out. The point is that these people had to shut up if they wanted to keep their jobs, if they wanted to keep living some kind of normal life without bother from "the power that be" who may not appreciate any mentions of "uncomfortable" subjects. I have been to Japan a few times, I have friends there. Their elders do the same as old Romanians. First, they do not speak about the war, or if they do, they speak in terms that are framed in such a way as to avoid causing "trouble". Eventually you may get "drips and drops" of info, such as "my great-uncle was a radio operator on a ship" or "my grandmother's first boyfriend disappeared". So, if you ask a Japanese person about a thing linked to the war (such as a Lightning) you will get a deflected yet polite reply. That does not mean that they will never approach the subject. They will, but in their own way, in their own time. If you try to find "unbreakable rules" in vague replies, more fool you. ;-) Radu