David Mooney

Hello all, this is something i've been working for a while....the Tamiya F-16 There isn't much to say about this kit that most haven't already said as its quite an old-ish kit now and been covered a lot, but I'll add to its plaudits. Nice detail and fitting isn't an issue anywhere on the kit. I added some extra detail into the undercarriage bays using various thicknesses of solder wire, Red Fox Studio's cockpit set, mine own mask sets (DM Scale Models) for the insignia and tail codes plus my 'inspection hatches, stencil masks and canopy' set. Paints used were all by Gunze, C305 and C306 were the basic colours and various parts were base colours plus white for variation. I hope you like it :-)

How's that? :-) No, these are from my own marking sets, if you DM me I'll post you a link if you would like to use them instead of the decals.

Thank you, its pretty much the iconic colours of the Spitfire isn't it and oddly takes you back in time when you see the DG-DE camo on any aircraft of the era.

That turned out well and you must be very pleased with the result, certainly as all those stencils must have driving you mad....but we'll worth that extra effort. Well done

Hello all, This is the final build of the year, and i've just got it over the line. Not much to add on this one as i said it all in my last build two weeks ago of the same kit 1/32 Kotare Spitfire Mk 1a - Ready for Inspection - Large Scale Planes So, i dont think i've done a bad job getting this done in under two weeks. Happy new year to you all All comments welcome

I must apologise, you're correct, I was meaning unit codes. Let me know what you dig up on the colours as I was going to do some masks for others that wish to 'do their own thing'. One tip, if you're going to use ormask 810, make sure you press it down with a warm thumb as this will then stretch the material over the raised rivets....then spray it quickly just in case it lifts.

Thanks Nick, I wasn't aware of the who-harr debate on the colours pre or post release of the kit....im not sure how I missed that haha. I think the issue is that they're different to what we're used to, plus the other kotare kit codes are very much closer to MSG than the ones in this version, so there is a discrepancy between kits. Once again, thank you to everyone thats commented :-)

Yes, these were decals. I know what you mean, I think the blue ring maybe too small but I was putting my faith in Kotare's research here of the specific aircraft.

Hello all, i think this will be the last one of the year for me. There isn't a lot that can be said that hasn't been said by others, the parts are great and clean with a great deal of detail. One thing that hasn't been mentioned (to my knowledge) is the issue with the decals, they're not almost blue rather than the Medium Sea Gray which most of the WW2 serials were. I manged to get around this by cutting masks for the offending decals.....maybe i'm right to have done it, maybe i'm not but i think they look much better and realistic in Medium Sea Gray (XF-83). The paints used were Mr Colour C369 Dark Earth, C316 White (i never tend to use a pure white) C33 Black (with a drop or two of Brown) and Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green. I'll add this picture to show the what i mean about the decal colour for you to make your own minds up on the issue As ever, all comments are welcome. Merry Christmas everyone.

Yes, its a tricky part of the Phantom for sure, so I sorta cheated by using a mask ;-) True words that. Thank you for everyone's kind comments

Hello all, carrying the Robin Olds theme on from SCAT II i thought i'd take a shot at SCAT XXVII. I have used Tamiya's F-4 C/D kit as a base. What i believe Tamiya did was base this kit on the aircraft at the National museum, but this had a few issues in the paint work, but i think i have managed to cover most of the issue off. One of the biggest issues with the original and museum versions is the size of the stars, they seem to be a 1/3 too big, so i corrected those. I use the Master AoA sensors to add the probe just behind the nose Radome. I took an attempt at the rippled look metal's behind the afterburner cans with i couple of masks, and i was pretty pleased with the effect in the end. Most of the decals were replaced using my mask set, DEF Models weighted wheels, Quickboost seats and Red Fox Studios set. extra's used to build this it are: Thanks for looking, all question and critique are welcome

Good job on that, loving the finish, great work

There are three big issues with this kit and many smaller ones that are easy to sort out with just filler and super glue and sanding. The canopy parts come up slightly short when assembling them, so you have to be careful with placement. I placed the rear and mid sections and then slightly re-shaped the frontal section which closed the canopy sections up but leaves a gap between the canopy and gun bay doors, this can then be filled, sanded and re-scribed and re-riveted. The wing span of the P-38 is quite considerable and trumpeter didnt add any reinforcement spars to prevent the wing bending, the wings flex quite considerably when the build is finished, and that mostly because the masses of weight needed in the nose to prevent it being a tail sitter. So, when i build another i will certainly add some sort of structure working its way across from the inboard section to the outboard. Ok, this flex might not sound like too much of an issue but the issue is that if you want the u/c to be vertical it may bow in/out at the final stages and obviously put more strain on the wing joints. The final issue is that i wanted to build the kit with the gun bays open, this is a real issue and i still dont know how you can do it and one i'd really need to test. The issue comes in the fact that the majority of the nose bay is full of ballast, i had to leave a fair few parts out to fit the weight in so currently i cant answer this one. Thank you to everyone on their kind comments

I've had this kit sitting about for a while and thought i'd have ago at it, after a bit of research i found that a lot said its bit of a pig to build........and they're right. But, there is a great reward if you can pull the thing around. The fit is 'iffy' and if i built it again (which i will) i'd certainly attack it differently, but thats the learning process of modelling. So here is the Trumpeter&HobbyBoss 1/32 P-38L 'Scat II' Kit additions: Red Fox Studio set, Aires wheels, MASTER gun set. Hope you like it, i am quite happy with it considering how difficult it was to get made. All Comments and questions welcome

Honestly i entered this build with some trepidation due to the amounts of panels, you know how it can be with certain kits that none seem to fix and it becomes an absolute missing....but this was just a breeze. As i said, i didnt really do the kit justice as you can do so much more with it if you have the time, i'd highly recommend it.

Here we go....Zoukei-mura Bf109 G14 This kit deserves a lot of praise in fit and detail, so much detail that most is lost unless you're going to do a stripped down maintenance scene. This aircraft is from 9./JG300 and was flown by Pilot Ofhr. Klaus Grothues. Items used are my own masks for the markings (DM scale models), some scavenged seat belts and Gunze C117 (RLM76), C37 (RLM75), C36 (RLM74), C123 (RLM 83). For the prop and spinner C18 (RLM70) Couple of points i wasnt aware of in regards to the 109 is that the yellow pipe has in fact a clear centre section which is the drop tank fuel gauge...well who knew! The u/c legs are notification that this aircrafts engine needed an high octane fuel....again, something i wasnt aware of so this made this build a good project to find these items out. So, here are some of the pictures of 'Yellow 1' 'Kristin'

Yes, no problem at all

Yes, no problem . The way I tend to do larger chipping areas is to paint the area in a metallic colour first and then do the whole hairspray chipping thing first. Then after the removal of the top (camouflage) colours I matt coat the aircraft and then use various metallic pencils and graphite pencils. Most bare metals are various shades of metallic, in areas of high wear it'll be darker so that's where I told to use the graphite pencils. Hope that helps. Thank you to everyone for the kind comments on this build.

Hello all and i hope everyone is well This is the my Tamiya Spitfire which was going to be Johnny Johnson's Triple X beer barrel bomber but it......didnt. The issue arose that i was going to try and have the barrels and pylons removable as i do like the clean lines of the Spit, but the magnets that i had installed werent strong enough to hold the resin barrels and pylons flush to the wing surface, so i ditched the idea in the end. This kit build nice and easily, i add the Red Fox Studio IP set, painted with Tamiya paints plus used my own mask sets for the camo and all the insignia and serials. All comments welcome :-)

Of course, i'd be very happy for you to use it. I've added a couple of more pictures with it now on its base, this was intended to be done ready when the aircraft was completed for the demonstration pics for my masking sets, but things got in the way.

Hello all, this is my effort to do a Lakenheath F-15C from the Tamiya kit. I choose to do 84-0027 as it had an odd 'camo splat' on the horizontal stabilisers and it had quite a hard edged camouflage, the F-15C's seem to have a mix of soft-edged and hard-edged schemes. So to do this scheme i made my own mask set for it, which made it a lot easier. The add-ons to the basic kit were Red Fox Studios cockpit set, Reskit AMRAAM's and burner cans plus i used PK Productions 'BIG USAFE MOD EAGLES' decals.....all three are excellent products, plus my own masks DM Scale Models Camo and Canopy set. Hope you all like it, it was a nice build and turned out well i think.

No, most certainly not a deal breaker thats for sure, thats why i made the mask set for it as i know many will be making it at some point. When i opened it i was like 'please be awesome, please be great'...but by the end it was 'ok, it was ok in the end' haha! Nice setting and picture you have there of a Gladiator :-)

Thank you for all the kind comments on this build as the Hurricane is one of my favourite aircraft and under represented in 1/32. This is probably why i was slightly disappointed in the kit, its certainly worth the price. What i dont want to do is bash the kit in anyway as Revell as one of the first to produce the Hurricane in a new modern kit, the only way i can really explain it is to say its very Revelly haha! Some of the location pins were iffy in the locating, injection pin marks in the most awkward places (where other makers would have put them in a place youd never see or cover with another part) like on the seat sides for instance...why!!! Oh why! Its just niggly things like that which with a bit of planning they could have made it easier/better.

This is the new Hawker Hurricane by Revell, its an ok kit but it could have been soooo much better. I'm sure there will be a few after market sets to come out later on to address a few issues, but at £40 its value for money. I built this to to test out a new set of masks i made to replace the kit decals on the aircraft, the aircraft was painted with Gunze 361,368 and 369. 'Glamour shot first' Hope you all like it as i was quite pleased with it and the masks worked out well

On 2/9/2023 at 5:56 AM, Granger Davis said: Beautiful work! I’m trying to resist, trying my hardest not to get too much inspiration to break open my Sturmovik! Oh gone on, you know you want to! haha! Thank you everyone for your kind comments on this build