Scotsman

Brian , one of the down sides of buying kits as soon as they come out, as I used to do, it that you miss out on Aftermarket goodies. Which explains why 2 years ago my Trumpeter lightning was dragged kicking and screaming to the work bench , its U/C legs and wheels were replaced, a new ejector seat was added , and while I was on a roll, my GR9 harrier war treated to paint touch up, and another new seat . I think there's a lot of truth in the saying that a work of art is never finished, merely abandoned, not for one minute am I comparing what I do to works of art! I also find that re-vamping an older model provides a nice change of pace between battling with new kits

Sky Movies has it here in the UK , we don't have a Netflix account yet , but its coming ! For those of us with Really long memories, I can still recall an article in a long defunct modelling magazine that I saw not long after the Blue Max came out which detailed the steps to turn the Heller 1/72 Morane Saundler (SP) 406 kit into the aircraft that crashes at the end of the film, AS I said I'm OLD! Actually no I'm same age as Madonna , now there's a thought!

Poor little soul , here's hoping for the best .. colinR

Photos.. Ok - ths is from the first time round.. trust me it looked a LOT worse in the flesh... And a little close .... Rougher than a badgers hind regions ! ColinR

Ever had a kit that won’t be built I mean one that , despite your best efforts simply won’t allow its self to be completed to your satisfaction . In my safe the model in question is the Academy 1/32 Sufa, and the Videos posted this week served to re-enforce my view that this is one model I’ll never complete properly. I bought the model when it first came out , built is with as many extras as were available, Resin U/C bay , Cockpit, external enhancement set , Brass , the usual. No Intake or Engine exhaust at that stage , thank goodness other the price of the project would have been closet to £300!. Anyway build went fine, no issues at all really , I chose a weapons load out on the extreme side, and we’re off to paint. And that’s where the fun started , not I’m an ok painter r, but I can’t free hand Camo, I’ve tried, and it just doesn’t work for me , and the camo of the Sufa, with those dratted conformal tanks.. AARGH…I painted it , the camo pattern sucked, touch it up with paint brush, it still sucked, sand down effected parts and repaint , Ugh… Eventually I threw in the town, decaled it, matted it , loaded the weapons, and tried to ignore it. Ever had an itch that wouldn’t go away.. Yup for me it was this model 6 months later out comes the paint stripper, and we go to work.. Oh man what a mess…. A week later and the weapons are off, and so is the paint, oh and most of the surface detail on the model By this time I’d built a few IAF F-16’s and I was pretty relaxed about the camo , so off we go again , and yes it was better this time round, sort of , not perfect , but at least I could stand to be in the same room as it for more than 10 mins without wanting to “Improve” the paint job. On went the decals, on went the ,by now, rather beaten up weapons , and just for good measure I glued the canopy down in the closed position . Ok now let’s leave it…. Eh no , it still wasn’t “quite right” , more fiddling, and then came the accident , It really was an accident , a land slide in my workshop, and when the dust had settled, no U/C , no engine back end, Lantrin set gone and so on and so on . That was a year ago Now I’m trying to fix things, a new metal U/c set along with wheels , and a mammoth raiding of the spares box means I’m trying to put right the damage, but it’s still fighting me , there are bits missing , U/C bits , canopy frames and so on , so there’s’ a lot a lot of scratch building is in my future. And as I try to salvage this most reluctant of models I’m faced with the fact that I still don’t really like the paint job, and I KNOW I could do so much better now, However the £200+ a new kit + resin would be is really beyond me .. so I soldier on, try to bring the beast back from the dead, and try not to file it in the bin! Oh Weapons load.. How about Lantrin Set, 2x600Gallon tanks, 2xGBU-15s, 2xAim-120, 2xShafir + guidance pod for the bombs.. Seriously what was I thinking!

Insomnia last week, and the Blue Max at 3.30am... Great flying , the rest of , not that good , and then it occurred to me I'd seen it on initial release in 1966!

Thanks you Paul this is very much appreciated , and what a conversion, I haven't looked forward to a kit as much since I got the original Tamiya Stine Eagle back in the 90's .. eek! I'm old! ColinR

Superb work, really beautiful, and like most here I LOVE the pilots..

Always fancied doing the 500 as TC's from Magnum.. sign of a misspent youth I suppose!

A more interesting point re this kit is its RRP in the uk of £99.99 - I know discount suppliers exist, but that is still far too steep for the contents of the box.. or is that just me! colinR

I have one , in rather poor condition in the attic, (I bought it that way , only one I could afford), I have a long and rather painful history with that kit , having bought it when it first came out in the early 70's and made a complete mess of both building and painting it . For the time being its a touchstone to earlier days , and there's no way I'm building it until my retirement , and I can give it it the love it demands. I'd say build it , but beware it could end up being a real time thief, there are SO MANY 1/20-1/24 car detailing parts that could be used on this model you could go slightly mad with all the options - I know what I'm talking about here hence the fact my one's waiting for me! If anyone wants the sad story of my total screw up , just let me know - its a sad sad tale!

Mike - those look beautiful builds, I finished my USAF A-1E earlier this summer , and I'm patiently waiting until my Guppy wings its way across the pond, looks like I'm in for a treat , I also used Tamiya Clear blue on my E, all I did was wash the clear section with some mily Acrylic brush cleaner/Thinner , and like mike a few light coats , and it looked really ver impressive As to cost , yup superficially the donor kits and conversion look expensive , but as Mike said shop around on E-bay and you can get some bargains, my AD-1 donor kit come in at around £65 delivered , which is a substantial saving as regards RRP here in the UK , and yup the conversion looks a lot , BUT as usual in the this life you get what you pay for , its expensive because its a great piece of work Apart from the Radar operators cabin, I think the hardest job on the Guppy will be filling all those pylon holes! ColinR.

I won't really comment of the quality of the build, other than to say I'm in a corer quietly crying to myself, looking at my poor attempt at a sufa! BUT I would stress one element of the build that I have experience of and that is the assembly of the wings and fuselage , the builder int he video follows the standard pattern of building the fuselage and then attaching completed wings .Having built 5 academy F-16s , hard won experience has led me to add the upper wings to the upper fuselage piece before any other Assembly begins, that way you can adjust the fit precisely , remove the tab on the lower wing piece , assemble the fuselage top and bottom pieces, and once dry , attach the lower wings , Voila, perfect fit . Incidentally the same trick eliminates any wing gaps on Tamiya F-15 kits as well! Just a small heads up to all of you who might be want to try a Sufa or other variations of Academy F-16s , great kits apart from intake woes, and Zacto/Scott have got you covered in that respect! colinR

Paul , I hate to ask this, especially since my career is IT, but could you post a links to the pics here , I since refuse to go near Facebook, Thanks colinR IT Professional , and Amateur Luddite! Edited - found Mike's build in WIP -

Resist - Nah! Not in this case...