KUROK

I listed mine on EBay a few months ago, with the HGW detail set, started it at £0.99 plus shipping.
 
It eventually went for something like £750. Which is why I sold it - I'd rather have £750 than any kit! And £750 will get you an awful lot of replacement kits.

I just put a Gotha on eBay last week (part of the daughter-needs-money-series), with a starting price of $0.99 and it went for about $450. Also for about the same price went my Fisher X-1A/B!

Get them built; it's model kits we are talking about here not Amazon share certificates. With an ever ageing and diminishing core of enthusiasts who are willing to pay well over the odds for kits (and) as we enter economically uncertain times, who knows if you will make much of a return if you hang onto them for any length of time.
 
If you sold and made, say, a $3-400 premium on what you see as an 'investment' on each kit next week, is that really going to 'change' or impact upon your life in any significant or noticeable way that you start looking at new houses or visit the nearest Bentley car showroom..?
 
Gary

After cutting most of the previously too big semi circles, I coiled up a new wire with the R/C push rod, and it made a much more acceptable sized coil:
 

 
 
 
 
After a few hours of cutting, swearing and generally having a fit, I had all 36 1/2 rings fitted to both engines:
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I know this is far from the best representation of these I've personally seen, but it was such a PITA, that I'm not redoing them and will live with them. The main issue with the engines, is that you have LOT of small little tedious tasks for an engine, and because of the twin aspect every single thing is doubled. 
 
 
 
 
Next in line of the tedious tasks was the upper cylinder heat shields. All 36 of them +4 extra had to be individually cut out, holes reamed, and trimmed and sanded to get rid of the pool of resin attached to all of them.
 

 
 
 
 
1 down, 39 to go:
 

 
 
 
 
The final task was done for the heat shields, and I got a layer of MS 1500 black on them:
 

 
 
 
 
Ill be getting on with the install of the head shields tonight, then it will be on to installing the 72 ignition connections on the ignition ring, then painting the ring itself, and starting on the ignition wires.
 
Cheers! 
 
 
 
 
 

I just found these pics today, as I found a "Photobucket Transition" folder today with ALL of my PB pics in it including Dixie Boy...............
 
This was a 1/32nd Hasegawa P-51D that I re-scribed and fully foiled and polished for one of my first customers (Fred) who was an active member on LSP many years ago. It was also my first polished foil job, as well as one of my first foil projects overall, so things are a bit rough in places. Dixie Boy was a civilian P-51D that was owned by a millionaire friend of Freds who had initially requested the model and when hearing my price (IIRC I think it was in the $400 range which is WAY low for a polished foil project IMHO but hey ho) immediately found it to be WAY too steep and refused the commission. Fred thought it was a very fair price, and he then ordered the commission  himself. I've attempted to contact Fred a couple times over the years, but no luck. I always wondered what happened to him or how DB was.
 
Still though, for one of my earliest projects, turned out just fine. You'll have to excuse the intense sun and reflections in the pics, it was murder trying to photograph all that polished metal, and this was prior to my photo booth.
 
The 1:1:
 

 

 

 

 
A couple foiling in progress shots:
 

 

 
 
 
 
Forgive the blue hue, as my camera was on the fritz in the hot weather we were having at the time
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
The rear fuel tank and apparatus were removed to make way for a scratched jump seat like the 1:1:
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Cheers! 

Here are some photos as it comes into final forms.  I have made some creative decisions as if you have to make a tough choice here.  If you are trying to replicate the studio scale prop, it has a lot of features that never show up in the movie.  For example along the sides there are extensive use of weathering materials that resemble rust effects.  Also the Satellite dish area looks totally different from what is replicated in the model.  Also the prop is fairly clean.  There is little panel lining, there are subtle streaking effects and some basic washes.  Now when you go back and watch Empire Strikes Back the look is totally different.  The falcon in the movie is just filthy.  The sides are just loaded with soot and very dark dirt effects.  Also in the movie scenes the set designers loved leaking hydraulic fluid.  You look at anything where there are hydraulics like the entry ramp and there is leaking fluid everywhere.  The thing is filthy in the movie.  
 
I in the end went more for the movie look.  I rewatched the movie and the rust effects don't seem to ever show up or make any sense.  When you see the movie prop it looks fire enough back that I think the movie close ups should influence the look more.  So here you go:
 

Finished this one about 5 months ago. Revell's new P-51D early.
 
Great kit, I think it strikes a good balance with fit, finish and detail. Silver is Rub n Buff. 
 
Photos taken with my crappy cell phone, really need to work on photography skills.
 
Cheers!
 
Dave/Ironman1945
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Dan, she is still upside down on her own cradle in my workshop. No new progress since the end of 2018.  Although...............
 
I am wrapping up my Ki-45 (I HOPE!) shortly, and my current plan IS in fact to have the bit kitty make a return to the bench!
After a two year break, and staring at her unfinished for so long, its time to move forward with her...............
 
Updates to come, as hopefully Ill be picking the big kitty back up this year still!
 
Cheers

Airfix have already jumped the chasm of only doing 1/24 subjects from around the Battle of Britain when they launched the Mosquito and Typhoon. They have also realised the power of the American Market with the Hellcat (and they realised there wasn't a good competitor large scale kit of this subject) . They also know the longevity of German WWII subjects. So what might they do next that would have broad appeal to a British, American and wider market base? 
If going Allied
P40E or N - both variants were extensively used by almost all allied air forces. I feel this would have as much longevity in the U.S. as the Spitfire and Hurricane molds have had in the UK market. It may also potentially appeal in the Antipodes and even Russia. This airframe also has a smaller span than the Spitfire Mk1a even. So not one that poses problems of space in 1/24.
 
If going Axis
Me 262 - This is an iconic airframe and one that is smaller than the previously released 1/24 Mosquito with masses of accurate data available for it and a lot of extant airframes and replicas. No other manufacturer has made this in 1/24 (I am amazed, given that Trumpeter did such a good job in 1/32 that they didn't scale it up actually). 
 
Kind regards
Paul

A P-40 in 1/24 is an excellent suggestion, and one I'd leap on as soon as it came out.  Personally, I'd like an N in RAAF or Tuskegee Airmen markings but the variations are endless for the short nose versions if they engineered it in a similar fashion to the Hasegawa kit.  After all, the P-40 fought almost everywhere so it's appeal should be almost universal.
 
Another good suggestion for an Axis plane too, but someone would have to do brass undercarriage legs for it if you were to weight the nose.  And a 262 is one that Airfix hasn't done too as we have a 109 and 190.
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Very enjoyable build the Eduard upgrades on the Hasagawa kit are excellent






 
Thanks for following

Zero number 9. finished.
Work in progress: 
 
 

















 

Continuing to plow away.  The clear parts on this kit are reasonably thin (the sliding part of the canopy will fit when slid back, unlike their Ki-27 kit) and clear-ish.  Greatly improved by a coat of Future.  I bought these masks for the canopy as they were the only ones I could find:

 
They are cut in Oramask - it's OK but for canopy masks I prefer the ones that Eduard makes out of the yellow Tamiya-tape like stuff.  It's thinner, to a useful degree.  To make masks for the inside of the canopy, I just took the surrounding material and stuck it down to a pieces of wide tape, and traced with a scalpel blade.
 

 
I've decided to try and "hairspray chip" the inside of the cockpit, so I've got a lengthy series of layers to spray (also doing some other stuff in parallel).  First hit everything with Alclad Gloss Black:
 

 
The Alclad basic Aluminum (001).  Tried to get a good thick layer to avoid "chipping" through it later.
 

 

 

 
I'll let that all dry until tomorrow and then hit it with hairspray and then acrylic cockpit green.
 
I made a little gooseneck lamp for the pilot to read his charts by:
 

 
I'll hand-paint the junction box black later.
 
The prop actually turned out OK, especially thinking back to what a grotty heap of plastic the component parts were as they came off the sprues...
 

corrected wing intakes from Resin2Detail released
wing mounted 0.50 gun pods should be released next
https://sk-sk.facebook.com/pg/RESIN2detail/posts/
 

 

 

P-38  !!!!

They’ve been smelted down and turned into Krugerrands.

Here is my recently completed Hasegawa Bf109K-4.  I started it in April, took a long break during the summer and finally finished it eight months later. I added a bit of aftermarket stuff to this build including:
1. Eagle Editions 109K-4 Resin Cockpit Set
2. Henri Daehne 109G/K Resin Prop Set
3. RB Productions 109K-4 Wheel Well Detail Set
4. RB Productions 109G/K Erla Canopy
5. Barracuda Studios 109G/K Resin Wheels
6. AIMS Late War 109s Decal Sheet
7. Eagle Cals 109K-4 #32-74 Decal Sheet
8. Airscale Luftwaffe Instrument and Placard Decal Sheets
9. MDC resin ammo chutes
10. Eduard masks
11. Resin/metal landing gear replacements
 
For the exterior colors, I used a combination of Mr Hobby Aqueous and AK Real Colors paints.












 
The build thread can be found at:
 

and more pics

 

 


 

 
and together with Me 262
 

 

 

 
thanks for looking
jan

Hi All
Here my last built, the Hasegawa / eduard P-40N in LuluBelle markings: not unusal markings but really beautifuls ones
I built it from the box, hope you likte it

 

 

 

 

 

 

P-38  !!!!

Got my computer back from repair much quicker than expected and it looks like it's working well.  Thankfully, I can put that old laptop away.  I hate laptops almost as much as I hate mongrel idiots who have nothing better to do than write virus's for unsuspecting innocents like me.    I'd expected to have more to show for the next update, but then I also expected it would be longer until I was able to make said update. 
 
 
Next job was to paint all the interior bits.  I like to do this all in one hit, though something usually gets forgotten .  So all the small bits were sticky taped down to a piece of paper and sprayed with Curtiss's idea of interior green which appears to be applicable to P-40B's in 1940 and '41.  As I have three pots of chromate green, I added some raw umber and yellow to one of them and came up with what I think is a reasonable facsimile.  From my research, it seems that Curtiss colours varied because they bought from the cheapest supplier, hence the variation between aircraft batches.
 


 

 

Incidentally, you can see the exhausts in the picture above.  These come in two halves, to be glued together.  For one side, each half seems to fit well, but the other needed some adjustment with files before they fitted properly.  As with my Trumpter P-47 build, the parts fit is very inconsistent.
 
The engine was then mounted into the engine mounts and the radiator attached and allowed to dry.  Next, the coolant piped between the engine and radiators were attached and allowed to dry before the next one was added.  They're a bit fiddly, especially the ones that come off the cylinder heads which need to go on first.  In all cases, the locating lugs need to be thinned down as they don't fit into the slot provided on each radiator.  The last of the kit piping was added next, but one broke so I made a replacement from electrical wire.  This is the long one at the bottom.  Lastly, a little more piping was added from copper wire between the top of the reduction gear to the tank on the top of the bulkhead, and a second larger pipe from the same place to the oil cooler was made from 1.0mm brass wire, painted flat aluminium.  These pipes were located with strips of wine bottle lead.  I'm presently adding the exhausts, and have done one side.
 


 


 


 
The exhausts were painted before adding them carefully.  Like the radiator pipes in the kit, the locating tabs also needed to be thinned down before they'd fit.  I painted them a base of burnt iron, then toned that down a little with a dry brush of aluminium.  I'll do a bit more on them once the model is painted.  Once the other bank of exhausts are fitted, I'll fit this into the fuselage.  The removal of the cowling on one side means that only one of the kit locating tabs is still in place, so I have added ribs to the fuselage to help with the location of this assembly.  I've also added the rudder and tail wheel mount on one side.  On the other, I've added radiator intakes and front fuselage closing panel.  This will further help with locating the engine.
 

 
The cockpit is a long way off finished, but here's a few progress pictures.  The rudder pedals have been attached to the CMK resin front bulkhead.  I've used the Trumpy kit rudder pedals as they seem to fit properly and in correct proportions to the floor.  Also, the CMK resin bit was in pieces in that box, so NBG anyway.
 

 
A little touch up and scratching with a dry brush of aluminium will see that finished, after which it will be attached to the floor.  The cockpit floor is finished.  After paint, I scratched them up a bit to reveal the Eduard steel etch below and added the reserve and wing tank gauges.  The left and right sides are very much a work in progress, however, I've added the etch switch panel to the left side and painted the elevator and rudder trim knobs.  On the right side, I removed the radiator lever from the resin and added the etch rad lever before painting, and have painted some of the detail such as the pilot's oxygen hose and rad lever handle.
 

 
That's it for now.  Hopefully, for the next update, I'll have the cockpit finished and in place and the fuselage buttoned up.  Don't ask me why, but I seem to be enjoying this one more than the previous Trumpeter P-47 build, which is a bit wierd considering the kits are about the same in terms of quality, fit and errors.  The things we get used to... 
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Finally got this one finished and also tried my hand at building a base. 
 
AK Real Colours
Eagle Cals
Barracuda Wheels
Barracuda Cockpit stencils
Ultracast Pappy Boyington
 
AK Terrains
Palm Tree - from Ebay seller in Thailand
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
It's a great kit.  I have another in the pile for a later date.
 
Thanks for looking.
Simon

Your work is just amazing!!!!
 

 

This is 1/32 Eduard (Hasegawa) P-40N Warhawk finished with the markings of 89th FS 80th FG in India during 1944.
Paints: Gunze Sangyo acrylics
Decals: Nose art (Skull & shark eye) and numbers (61) are made by customhobbydecals.com
Happy modelling
 

Just finished this AMT Havoc.  A somewhat difficult kit because of warped parts and sketchy attachment points.  Aftermarket wheels and gun barrels.  Some stenciling by Foxbot decals.  The main markings are the poor kit decals that are dot matrix printed and off register, but appear accurate.  Overall not a bad shelf model of a under-recognized aircraft.
 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking.