rhamilton007

Work continues with the new 1/24 Spitfire IX conversion to a RAAF Mk.VIII. At this point I have the base coat down with three shades of grey and green. These will be buffed back once the marking have been applied. There are no decals available in 1/24 for the Grey Nurse is everything will need to be masked up and sprayed. The masked worked a treat.

I'm just about finished building the new Airfix Spitfire IX with the HH VIII conversion parts and thought I should post some pics. When Airfix announced the 1/24 Mk IX I questioned 'why?' as the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire IX/VIII is so good. Does the larger scale Spitfire from Airfix make any difference? Yes it does! This is not a kit to be thrown together. Each section of the build is a mini kit in itself. These photos are after ten days I'm about halfway through the cockpit. The cockpit is heavily weathered as the aircraft I'm building a 457 Squadron RAAF Spitfire (ZP-Y) A58-672 was very weathered by the end of 1945. More shortly, cheers

1/32 DH Beaver - Part 2 Many thanks for everyone's comments. MARU5137 - thanks for the walk-around links. Its been difficult to locate a good walk-around of the 'military' Beaver and these photos will do the trick for this build. I have had a productive week. The Beaver is mostly together and has been scribe and riveted. I still have to work-up the upper fuselage, front canopy and upper cowling, which is probably the most complex part of the build. The engine cowling is over-sized and will need to be modified and reduced. I have decided to build a float version based on the particular colour scheme - and the fact you don't have a lot of opportunities to build a float air-frame in 1/32. I have started casting the interior and other smaller parts. Once completed (and the floats), the build will start to become more like a kit build, Cheers Ryan

1/32 DH Beaver - Part 1 I recently needed to mold some parts for another project, so spent some time to set-up my vacform machine. I had some 1/32 DH Beaver masters handy and decided to test run the vacform machine to check everything was running correctly. Four day's later, here's the 1/32 DH Beaver. The fuselage is together, although I will drop the cockpit/interior into the model once the air-frame is finished. The wings have a double sparred throughout as I intend to drop the flaps and ailerons and to give it additional strength. I'm surprised at how big the air-frame is. I'm now trying to decide whether the finished model with float/skis/wheels and what scheme - probably orange/day-glow orange Antarctica RAAF/ANARE at this stage. More updates shortly Ryan

Lovely work John, great weathering, cheers

I have to agree with several previous posts, a 1/32 Avro 504 or BE2C would fit the bill. Added to the list would be a 1/32 DH Beaver or Pilatus Porter - popular schemes and just the right size in 1/32. Cheers, Ryan

Sensational work Peter, I’m thoroughly enjoying this build, essentially an online tutorial. Learning a lot about my own building, Cheers Ryan