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I used to stare and drool over the P-38 at the Udvar Hazy Center quite routinely when I lived in DC.

OK, time for a long overdue update. Lots of progress since my last post so there's a few pics to show this; This is a resin detail set bought from ebay. Can't remember the name of the guy who makes these but do a search and you'll find it. Well worth the cash but not sure how much you'll actually get to see on the finished build. and painted.... Instrument panel - all out of the box Engines painted Build complete and ready for paint; I have to say, the fit of some of the parts is poor for a modern kit. The nose/gun section was particularly bad and required lots of superglue/rescribing. It also needs LOTS of noseweight to avoid a tail sitter..!! On to painting then; All main markings are sprayed using home made masks cut on my Portrait cutter Paints used were Mr Paint for the Olive Drab and Neutral Gray, Mr Hobby for the yellow and green on the markings. I'm using an Eagle Cal decal sheet of 'Clana Louise' but have found the nose markings to be quite ugly (lots of creases) when applied around the complex curves, so I've removed them and will mask/spray them instead. She's still to weather/decal etc so still a lot to do. This needs to be ready for Telford in four weeks time (gulp..!) for our local IPMS branch (IPMS Cleveland) 25th anniversary group display. Come and see this in the flesh

The days I strived for perfection and accuracy have long gone. These days I'm just happy to finish something. This is my 5th model this year. Paints are Gunze, decals are from HAD - a bit brittle, otherwise excellent - conform to panel lines beautifully. seatbelts are from Radu (superb!). Hope you like. I've also finished a Revell P-51D which I will take pictures of later today. Lothar

We're for sure doing these in 1/48, but I need to gauge interest in a pared-down version in 1/32. I've done a complete set of stencils and the various iterations (of which there is a surprising number) of hinomarus, which we will sell separately. In 1/32 all of these won't be able to make the cut, but the more interesting ones definitely will. The good news is that with your own refs (lots available online) and some creative paint work, you'll be able to do a bunch of differently camouflaged DACT birds from the 1970s and '80s. The squadron markings and other stuff didn't change - just the camouflage. This composite (which, again, represents what we'll be doing in 1/48) shows every JASDF unit that operated the F-104J/DJ. Regarding the latter, with mixing and matching of serials, you'll be able to do them as well, since the markings are identical to the single seaters. The stencils will have the extra stuff required for the DJ. What think we?

Not affiliated with David in any way, and I presume many of you have seen his excellent videos, but golly, his work is gobsmacking! ie he has more talent in his pinkie that I do in my entire body 100x over lol! Enjoy!

hi guys just stumbled across this - quite cool the picture and sound are very high quality and no bs music or idiot commentators in the background! https://youtu.be/CDeglorsv_8 not sure what engine is in the Fw190 / whether it is original? maybe if you have similar cool links post them on this thread? always gives me goose bumps! Nick

An interesting observation from Stormer Robert. I’d also like to see why he thinks your figures are not in proportion. I’ve had issues with some of the Z-M offerings but yours have never given me cause to raise an eyebrow, especially that delightful WW1 mechanic!

My score from yesterday's IPMS convention visit.

Hi everybody! I'd like to inroduce my latest project and the very first one here on LSP - the famous WWI Fokker Eindecker 1/24 scale model. I always desired to build something different and original. And I've always been fascinated by models built as such a naked airframe with no (or almost no) cover or fairing. Thinking about what would be the best type to start with, I decided to choose this interesting and, thank's to the synchronization system engaged in it, the very first proper fighter plane Oh yea, another reason why I chose this plane is, that it is a quite simple monoplane! Well, currently, lots of work are already done. All of the original parts or masteres are already finished and a friend of mine, Pavel, was so kind and did a great job with casting the parts for me. A photo etched sheet with some metal parts is also succesfully finished and prepared to use, as well as wooden parts laser-cutted from 0,4 mm plywood. A finished model may look like this

Hi everybody! Here we go - an assembled wing. Coloured and washed 0,4mm plywood... ...an assembled rib.... ... a pile of splinters ... ...and finally an assembled wing. I am just happy with the result! I am pretty surprised with the properties of the plywood. It seems to be very fragile, but even when a single rib is assembled and glued, it is really solid and tough! Love the work with a real wood

Stormer, thank you for the feedback, I would be interested for you to elaborate more on the "off Proportion" of our figures. Anything that helps make the sculpting better is a good thing.

Yeah... when you imagine that somehow I am "insulting" some unidentified entity, that is wrong... But when you are insulting me, that is right. Gotcha! OK, since you are so convinced that movable things can only be in one position, please clarify the following: - mug handles: left or right? - doors and windows: open or closed - canopies: open or closed? Can you envisage any scenario when one of the above can be one way, the other way or in-between? Go! Radu

Sooo... they have the kit in stock at Sprue Bros, that's great, it's a mighty fine kit.

I hope he flies with an airline where he can take two 23 Kg bags.

Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging responses. As I do at the end of every build, I write a magazine article on what I’d did directly from my WIP thread, which is one of the major reasons I do them in the first place. Reviewing this build from start to finish confirms that this kit is a real challenge to just put together and even more so to correct many panel lines and other details. Still, I’m pretty happy with the end result, which could never have been done with the old Hasegawa kit, so we modellers should be happy that this kit exists at all as a good platform to create a decent 1/32 F-5E. What we now need is a good resin cockpit, because the Black Box one that I used is super rare and almost impossible to find. The gloss black finish is another big challenge and although I’m also happy with how it turned out, I’ll never do another one. As expected, the glossy finish picks up any crap that might be in the air due to static electricity, which forced me to sand down and repaint several areas many, many times. Even after dusting off the model the best I could, you can still see bits of dust everywhere in my close-up pics above, so that will never go away. The other major shortcoming of this color on this model is the total lack of available red decals, as I described above. Even after making do with an assortment of decals and painting some with masks, I’m missing a few that should be there, like the big “AF” at the top of the tail. I suppose I could have found a way to paint those too, but there comes a time when you just don’t care anymore and need to move on to another project. As mentioned in my WIP thread, my next challenge will be another Kitty Hawk kit, in this case the T-6 Texan that I will modify slightly to a Canadian Harvard. After building nothing but iconic fighters for so many years (F-4, F-14 and F-18 twice), I need a new challenge with glossy yellow wings, where the dust should be less noticeable. BTW, my Spitfire below will be featured in the January and February Fine Scale Modeller magazine (2 parter), while my Eagle will be on the cover of a new FSM book on Modeling Aircraft, also in February. I’m really looking forward to see how these articles turned out! FSM "Modeling Aircraft" Cheers, Chuck

Hi All, the big airfix hellcat is finally finished! An enjoyable build of a really Great kit. No real issues just took some careful building and plenty of dry fitting before glueing in place. The blue was tricky to get any depth and variation and didn’t really like being worked with oils. I used a neutral wash for panel lines and as a filter. Resin wheels was the only after market and all markings are painted. cheers Matt

Hi Mick, Milling of plastic always superior to laser cut plastic in my experience too - but we're going to try laser cutting first as I think this will produce parts fit for purpose - bearing in mind they'll all be completely hidden within the wing. *If* we get as far as producing a set, the modeller will still need to modify the wings, undercarriage bay sides and the kit supplied spar. But the hard part of generating the corrected wing formers is done - let's hope it works! Will find out very soon... Have fun - and thanks for everyone's continued interest/support/patience - I have lot's going on in life and models not a particular priority at present! Iain

Hi Guys, A little more work on the Mistel braking chute. I made the springs from fine brass wire. The lanyard to the shackle is made from twisted lead wire and the shackle itself is from a Takom 1/35 Panther tank kit. Springs made from brass wire wound round plastic rod to get the shape. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Springs superglued to the casing: Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Twisted lead wire for the lanyard: Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr With the shackle in place: Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr That's all folks! Regards, Bruce Crosby

thanks folks Hi Radders, yes we will be there in our usual spot in Hall 2 - the P51 won't be though as it's too near completion so I want to save it for the comp next year. I will most likely bring the Spit XVI and have it on the LSP stand though Good spot Jay - I haven't done them yet as they are a bit fragile to add when I still have a lot of handling to do - thanks for the drawing though, saves me looking it up on Aircorps TTFN Peter

A view under the inner wing plus showing other details like scoops on the bomb door also note the tail bits and weathering: Jari

Paint job is done.

Definitely go for the 188 conversion as it's a lot of work but also a lot of fun!! Regards. Andy

I've got the tram car in my stash, it is a rather incredible kit. It's got something like 1,200 parts, the suspension alone has pretty much every single part the real one would have. Hope you like itty bitty parts. Matt

In an effort to try and find a bit of MoJo... British rigging wires and terminals from RB Productions - these look ace and can't wait to give them a go: Talking of which - another addition to the WingNut Wings pile - and, yes, I've started one of the other Camels - hence the rigging wires! And, well, this was almost half price and, for some completely unkown reason, I couldn't resist! A complete diorama in a box - and amazing detail: Have fun... Iain

hello gentlemen, thanks for your support! In the mean time Revell is sending me a new canopy so I guess I will be having it in a few days. That has not kept me away from progressing with my build. Panels have been filled with white primer:

Nice shots Finn. I found the pronounced joint between the glass nose and the rest of the fuselage to be interesting. Almost looks like they sealed it with tape... Also, the first pic Finn posted showed a pretty evident taper of the nacelle. Now I'm not so sure about this issue....

Howdy folks, I've just published my review of a handy set of utility decals from Fantasy Printshop: Fantasy Printshop FP1080: RAF 8" Serial Numbers & Letters WWII and 1946 Style Thanks to Fantasy Printshop for the review sample. Enjoy! Kev

Got a really big box from HLJ on Friday. At 1/20 scale, it's definitely large scale: The manufacturer had fun with the outer box putting caution labels on each corner And inside the brown box was something I never thought I'd see. If you're wondering about the size of the box, here it is compared to a HB B-24 which isn't a small box in its own right. I'm going to need a lot of paint for this sucker. Carl

thank you my friends been away on business a bit so not much done, but I guess enough for an episode.. ..ailerons... lets take a look - see how there are both raised & indented rivets... there is also what looks like an overlapping panel at the forward half of the aileron (forward of teh trim tab) so I thought I would make a folded metal part with the raised rivets, and add the other panel on top with indented rivets.. ..I started by adding both sides of the drawing together to get what it would be if folded out flat and pinpricked where the raised rivets were - also scored the trim tab... ..then after turning it over and adding the raised rivets, i folded it and folded the leading edges to get the inner (and main) part of the aileron ..then I made and rivetted the overlapping panel, also folding down the leading edges.. ..a thick plastic card spar was then added and once I had made both ailerons, they were filled with Alec Tiranti expanding foam - this stuff goes rock hard and was actually a bit of ballache to clean out of the open end where the aileron meets the flaps.. ..with both done, I started removing the trim tabs - these were waste - I made new ones with raised rivets.. ..soon both were completed.. ..the exposed end seen because the flaps are down was detailed according to pictures & drawings.. ..and with two fixing rods fixed into the leading edges, they were mounted to the wings - I might live to regret this but the wingtip fairings after profiling to neatly fit the ailerons were getting really fragile and will break so hopefully this will protect them.. ..Flaps next - they are an interesting, if similar structure.. TTFN Peter

Well!! Progress!! Managed to slap some paint on, and gloss and decals. The Mustang from Revell has Cartograf decals, this ol' junker does not. Short of Tamiya Extra thin I haven't found ANYTHING that is available in Winnipeg to help snuggle these bastards down. Solvaset, nope, Microsol/Set, nope, Tamiya both tyoes, nope, Mr softer/setter? nope... Nothing helps, I guess I'll try some Tamiya X-20A when I get home again, but I'm almost afraid, as there are no spare decals. To all of you who did the cat decals, brave brave people!! Anyway, it looks like a Lynx! Snazziest helo I know of or sure, i'd love to fly one once, but those days are gone. (Got to ride in one once, but not the same!) I KNOW the emergency door activation markings are too low, but I was NOT going to try to get the decals to conform to the bumps... So I went rogue...

The paint job will be based on these photos, not sure to what degree I will weather the model yet.

There are some sprue shots of the Hs-129 kit partway down the page. Not sure if they're new. https://hobby.dengeki.com/event/859363/ Carl

Thank you Dave, appreciate it. I would like to attend Telford again, at some point. Here's a little update on the progress, although small it took me forever to get this far... It was fun though, being able to use other colors, than the usual grey/green/black... I had a great time working on the lady with the feather/fur boa, trying to make her look like a 'flapper'. Pilots, and 9 passsengers, I really could use one more... Cheers: Kent

thank you folks - you are too kind carrying on with the wing fillets - the borders are laid out with tape to rub soft metal into to get the shapes in 3D after translating the plan profiles.. ..taped down & burnishing.. ..the forwardmost fillet is one piece and very difficult - there was nothing for it but to have a go at bashing some ali into shape - itv soon kinked and creased and took a lot of work to get even half right... ..you can see here how the material just wouldn't do what was needed and split in one place - no matter I thought I could let in a piece here - this had any inner creases filed down to give it the best chance of truly flattening out when fixed.. ..still working it.. ..and finished & with fixings.. it's not perfect, but good enough for me.. ..same on the other side.. ..the PE arrived for the front vents so I could do this panel too - another tricky one.. ..first step was to add the vent structure and then make the front seam of the panel meet the nose intake casting... the rest of the panel lines could be dealt with with overlaps being removed.. ..with both panels & the vents added..,. the fasteners are added, but not yet all the riveting.. ..and the nose is pretty much coming together.. ..still lots to do despite it looking quite complete... TTFN Peter

Will be there one day only I think this year.. the Thursday and Friday I'm hunting Cypriot Mi-35's, and i'm back in work early Saturday... so if i'm not too tired, I shall be there Sunday all day. Shame about Iain, but I totally understand...

I see that "real life" struck on several intentions regarding visiting Telford, and i'm sorry to say i'm one of them not being able to either, but this might be a "bucket list" item, though that would be pushing it a bit. I hope you all have fun joining a LSP gathering, must be great to meet all of you, have fun!!!!

I was like that for the first couple of visits.. But then I took the plunge and went and introduced myself at the LSP stand and I'm glad I did!

I'm coming along on the Sunday - To be honest although i've been regularly visiting LSP i've not built anything of my own for ages now. I'm hoping a visit to Telford will kick start the mojo back into action. Would be nice to meet up with some of you guys, in years past i have visited but never actually met up with anyone.

A minor showing at Wiltshire Scale Modellers last night. The launch dolly so fay. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Hmmmm. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Hmmmm. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Time Maunder is the good looking one standing up. A superb artist, does things like Box Art for various manufacturers. I'm the ugly old bugger sitting down. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Painting the wheels: Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr And the rear bogies Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Bogies assembled temporarily Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Regards, Bruce Crosby

A buddy and I had toyed with the idea, but with the time I've had to take off around my mom's passing, I've vaporized all of my PTO days for the rest of the year. Maybe next year?

It's funny - everybody gravitates toward 635, and that's my least favorite of all of them 606, 507, and 641 are my faves!

I'd buy a set. I'm sure there would be great interest in the sheet from Japan, maybe contact HLJ see if they'd be interested in placing an order? ps. I think it's great! pps. I would definitely include 635.

635 is pretty sweet looking IMHO

Well she's very nearly there and I learned a few valuable lessons... 1. Model masters acrylics don't stick to prepared plastic very well and tamiya masking tape will quite happily remove it! 2. Mistakes can be recovered from (see point 1!) 3. I need more practice with decals 4. I need more practice using an airbrush 5. I need to better understand weathering! Thanks for looking! I would appreciate any constructive criticism...

@Robthepom, nope! Not even close to your skills! Wow that PE interior looks amazing. Rivets... Well I Have them, but not for this project, this one was straight fun, no challenges... And patience which I lack severely at the moment. No. I'm going for a clean used bird. It's got the stance now: Wheels/LG struts are not glued in, I just had to see the stance... I need to fit clears, mask and paint the fuselage first. So a little work on that. But alas I am busy tomorrow, and go back to my regular shift on Monday, so likely won't be much done before I come back! Wonder if anyone called this one "Rudolf"... The pictures certainly show a very shiny red nose, even if the fuselage was a bit "worn" Cheers H.

Got the sliding doors painted. Mostly to test the home made masks... They came out well! Took 2 attempts to cut as the first batch did not cut through, which was annoying as it cost me 9 inches of film... Doors: Body together: Engine deck and cowlings assembled: The Tailboom and pylon are together and sanded, the nosecone is together and sanded, still wondering if I should paint the red portions first, or after... It may be easier to paint the reds first then mask and paint the grey, but that is not how it would have been painted i real life... (yeah I know, not real life...) We shall see, I am still a bit so-so on the quality, it runs from superb quality 90% of the way, and 10% garbage. but the price was OK for a 32nd scale kit, so I guess I can live with that... Cheers H.

So, I got back from my extra week of work, got some dental work done, done the run around, honey-do list, and finally got to sit down some... Not much, have a bruised tailbone, which makes sitting in my chair awkward... Anyway, scaled and sized my masks, cut them on Oramask 810, and they look fantastic! now I just need to get a chance to use them! Have also made some masks for my 72nd Hawker Typhoon, which is ready for paint, so I will just have to see how we did! Anyway, progress pics: Floor masked and painted Instrument Panel with Airscale radar screen. Still not accurate, but better than instrument cluster! Hope to get a little more done in the next couple days!

Thanks! Got a little more done, and threw some MrP 36231 on the cockpit floor and console, and soundproofing for rear cabin, probably a little work to be done on cockpit internals before I can paint those, so that will wait. Unfortunately I got a callback to work, so have to take another 5 or so day break... Fairly large body! Floor Painted Cheers!

OK, So I bit off more than I could chew, sorta. Looked at the panel in the kit, And it is remarkably close to accurate with regards to the pilot and middle, only the observer's side is not correct. So instead of building the entire panel from scratch I removed the details from the Observers side, installed a 'quasi' radar screen, the 3 instruments that go on the side, and a bar to represent the radar conrols, and one to represent the pubs shelf with cover on. I could make the radar screen smaller with the keyboard on the side, but I decided to just leave as is, likely I'm the only one going to care anyway! I removed the details from the dual controls, such as the mounting plate for copilot cyclic, the pedals and pedal adjuster. I will remove the collective from the unit itself lare, attach and get ready for paint for this part. I hope to throw the center console on and start picking out details and perhaps fire up some cabin work! The kit details are certainly very much better than the Revell kits of yore... Kit Box: Decals (some will be substituted by paint): Sealed parts: Cabin floor: Instrument Panel original: IP Modified: Cockpit Mocked Up: Cheers!

Hi gang, After thinking long and hard I have decided to stand down as SIG Leader - there's too much going on elsewhere in the world at the moment - and my heart really isn't in it any more. A stand booking was made in April, with our annual IPMS return - but I've not heard/seen anything back yet (nothing unusual) - so hopefully it will magically appear when the site plan for Telford is published (that's normally how we find out). I'll hand over the reigns to my very capable deputy, Royboy. Thank you for everyone's help, support and involvement over the last 21 years - it's been great fun! Iain