JerseyChris

This. 100%. 
Contrary to what it seems some think, we are not out here arbitrarily locking threads because we don't agree with, or don't like  what's been talked about; that is not what we nor LSP is about.
Civil discussions are not just allowed, but encouraged.
As Ron said, it's when members start trading jabs, insults and telling others how to view the forums, that's when threads get shut down.
If you feel the need to go to a different forum, by all means, we have no issues with that what-so-ever. We are all adults here and free to come and go as we please. 

I think your getting ahead of yourselves.  I can assure you there has been zero discussion with the mods about locking this thread.  Brian sums up why the other one was locked pretty well. 
 
A thread about what could have been from a company that went out of business sometime ago is getting old, but what ever. When it turns into personal punches around "if you don't like it don't look" is where we shut it down as after over ten years being a mod here it's inevitably doing to spiral south.  It's completely pointless and a bad vibe.
 
Yes it was me who recommended we do so but I have been very busy at work and could not address any fallout when doing so, which happens just about every time us mods lock something. Those complaints need to be addressed but it takes time to do so and part of the job of being a mod. We all agreed, so Ray took the liberty of doing so. 
 
 
 
Ron

I can tell you right now it wasn't just because of some thread drift, that happens a lot here.
There were a LOT of personal shots/sniping back and forth in that thread as well.
That decision was made (rightfully so), not lightly, and we all agreed it was the right one.
That's all I'm going to say about that.

Perhaps the Mods considered there was a risk of that and wanted to avoid it happening.  In any case, 'tis done, and I for one have no problem with that.

To address the OP here, there can be numerous reasons for a thread lock-down. That thread was doomed from day one to go nowhere, as there was really nowhere for it to go. While it never really got too snotty, it was also quickly devolving from the original intent, into a meandering discussion of what other companies may do, so not on point at all.
 
Keeping a post "on topic", within reason, helps those that are interested, remain interested, and is why we prefer for it to stay that way whenever possible. Locking threads is not a decision that any staffer takes lightly.

The LSP MOD's do an incredible service to the forum people that love this site for what it is.  I loath the topics that usually dive into the rabbit hole and personal sniping as Brian mentions above.  The majority of the time someone just can't understand another person's point of view.  Yes, it's a public forum but many great modelers have packed up and left LSP over trivial BS and jabs.  They left with ruffled feathers never to come back and it's really sad for the rest of us that didn't agree with everything someone else may have mentioned in the first place.    As mentioned before, the topics on "wouldn't it be nice if such and such manufacturer would make this kit?"  Why haven't they done it already?  I simply do not peer into these posts as they always become the same old, same old routine.    Peace out!  

There are certain topics that seem to go sideways easier than most. As mods our desire and goal is to try and not close threads if at all possible. However, sometimes, to keep the peace of the site it is unfortunately necessary. That is not something we ever like or enjoy doing, but it is a part of the job. 
 
Some discussions go around, and around and AROUND and then go around a few more dozen times it seems, and the ones that get locked usually by then have generally degraded into something not just off topic, but devolved into personal sniping or even attacks. This of course is not always the case, as there can be many factors involved, but please know its not something we like, or ever want to do, but is occasionally necessary. 

I've pitched a few.  The Trumpeter Hellcat and the Revell P-51D are the most recent examples.  On the other hand, I've pulled a few kits off the shelf after years and ended up turning out examples that I was/am really happy with.
 
The Swamp Ghost was shelved for a year:

 
The Tamiya Zero languished for 2 years.

 
And the Tamiya E8 kit sat for 2 years, got paint splattered on it, parts lost, boxed and moved, then one day turned into this:

 
So, at the end of the day, before I pitch a kit, I have to know that I'm absolutely, completely over it and it's BS.
 
But, as I always say, life is too short to build crappy kits. 
 

The newest 1:24 kit from Airfix is safely built and stored away for the winter SPITFIRE Mk.IXe so it's time to turn my attentions to one of the oldest Airfix 1:24 kits and the one that really set Airfix apart IMHO in the large scale kit market.
As a fresh faced (really, I was) 13 year old, I trailed one dark late November Saturday afternoon with my Nan to the local Sheffield toy megastore, Redgates
to buy my Christmas present, ready to be whisked away to storage ready for Christmas day.
It was a no brainer what I wanted and, if you knew the vastness of redgates and the range of the toys it stocked, you'd realise I was probably already a dedicated modeller even back then.
I'd progressed from building 20 piece models from Aurora of creatures from my other passion, horror films,

through balsa planes both rubber powered and Jetex (weren't THEY fun?. There are still trees growing in my local wood with bits of balsa Mig15 embedded in them) to smaller aircraft. But today there was only one beast I wanted. I'd seen it in the Airfix catalogue, paper then not virtual, and it was the 1:24 Junkers JU87B. 
Procured, stashed and unwrapped on Christmas day, the build was epic as was the size. It took me about 4 months of guddling around to get it finished and God was I proud of it.
I still have it now. It's the only one of my models I've ever kept, it's that special to me. No airbrush or internet then, it was built OOB and brush painted with Airfix enamels. 
It's had a couple of rebirths... and a death. I refreshed it in 2010 on my return to modelling after a 35 year hiatus, it was dropped onto a concrete floor in 2015 and patched up after that. I still love it
 
And now it's back. It's on pre-order naturally, but this time I hope to really do it justice with access to reference material I never had back then, paints from MRP, closer to the original colours and thin as gossamer to apply and obtain subtle variations I never could back then. Oh, and an airbrush to spray them with.
Most exciting though is that some of the parts that were limited in fine detail due to the technology of the time have been produced as an aftermarket kit by Peter at AIRSCALE. Now it's not cheap but it's huge. It arrived yesterday and there are beautiful resin 3D printed parts such as pilot's seat, mg15 rear machine gun, rudder pedals, a fantastic pilots panel and twin radios. Those horrid rubber tyres beloved of 70s kits will go, to be replaced with weighted front and rear ones...I could go on.
 
So, all that remains is to await the arrival of the kit and get building. Below are some pictures of Redgates in the 70s, some crummy pics of my original 1975 kit and the embellishments from Peter and MRP I can't wait to use.
 
I'll be starting for nostalgia's sake, on Christmas Day because this year it's my totally gorgeous and understanding wife who's buying the kit and locking it away til Christmas. Feel free to watch.
 
 

 
 

 
 

It’s a good kit, goes together well and you can forget all the garbage and junk inside. 
 

... a new day in a new year and a new project ...
 

 
 

On the contrary, if it widens the range of large scale kits, makes the hobby more popular and stimulates demand, then bring it on. Larger aircraft become untenable in 1:32 as your spray booth is a fixed size. The 1:32 Lancaster looks incredible but how do you paint it and then what do you do with it ? 
 
I think the 111 looks fantastic. Well done !

Merry Christmas to all you good boys a girls. 
 
(time for the sneaky,  all night model building session while I wait to catch Santa.  Just quiet trimming and gluing… no noise!)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

The post-lady has just handed me this
 
 
Which is really not bad, considering I got the e-mail only yesterday from Jadlam saying they'd received the stock.
 
I have to say (and I hope I'm not tempting fate!) but they really have become my 'go to' for actual kit purchases - great service and always, if not the actual cheapest, one of the best prices..
 
Oh, and they don't charge for delivery within the UK.

I just had to, it would be silly of me not too, I've always wanted to build an early Spitfire as per the box lid.

Cheers
 
Dennis

Our Christmas raffle lends point and maybe urgency to Jack's post, however, I would not have felt comfortable had location details been demanded of me when I joined this community. I provided information when I chose to do so. I think that is a correct and proper approach.

Hi, guys.  It's been a little bit, but I've been far from idle.  I just tend not to get too bogged down with photos of the various phases of interior painting... priming, base coating, detail, chipping, decals, filters, washes, dirt, etc.  
 
So, here we go.
 
The Quickboost B-17 .50 barrel set came in.  As you can see, the difference between the kit barrel and the QB barrel are night and day.  

 
Borrowing from @leoasman, I thinned the back of the IP, drilled out the dial faces, put the decals on a cardstock backing piece and glued that to the back of the IP.  Worked like a champ and I'm glad they posted their methods.  Anyway, for spraying the flat coat, I masked the IP with silly putty.  The decals are a mix of kit decals and some from an Aeroscale generic cockpit placard set that I had.  The yellow framing around the six pack is just super thin tamiya tape strips.

 
The final product after pulling the putty.

 
A few shots of the interior at the end of the finish work.  The MRP zinc chromate is a bit bright yellow, so I toned it down with oil washes, enamels, and speckling.  In photos the speckling looks overdone, but in 1:1 scale, they're much more subtle and go a long way towards breaking up walls of color.




 
Again, Aeroscale decals.


 
Chipping was done with the sponge technique using Vallejo Model Air silver.

 
The cockpit roughed in.

 
The nose wheel well with lots of dirt and mud splashes.




 
The bomb bay deconstructed (and sans the actual bomb racks). 



 
More Aeroscale decals.  Before this gets buttoned up, I'll add a gunsight reflector from clear film.


 
Ye olde bombe racks.  I went with natural finish for a little visual interest.

 
The upper deck above the bomb bay.  Nothing aft of the three small radios is remotely visible, so I didn't do much painting here.  If you wanted to add a bunch of details, it's a pretty awesome blank canvas.

 
The luggage rack.

 
Nose gear and rear ammo can.

 
The QB barrel installed (some more detail painting was done later as shown).  The MGs are the weakest parts of the kit.  If you're really concerned about the soft detail here, the Gaspatch M2 is going to be the way to go.

 
Ye olde bombes for said racks.

 
Assembling the nose well.



 
The bomb bay is assembled.  Very little of the sides walls can be seen.


 
Dry fitting the turret while the glue on the bulkheads dries.




 
The cockpit assembled.  One last shot before it's closed up and lost forever.


 
A quick shot to give an idea of how much is going to be visible once the canopy is put in place.  Short answer is: Not much.

 
The turret.

 
Bomb bay after assembly.

 
Not much can be seen here.  Fortunately, the part that can be seen is the QB barrel.  

 
A milestone!  The fuse went together pretty well.  The little section between the nose and bomb bay is still the gap that requires the most physical strength to shore up.  A lot of liquid superglue was the remedy for getting it to stick together.  The plate that forms the base of the vertical stab fits reasonably well, though there's a gap on the left root.  Nothing too bad though.  The shot below is dry fit and the cemented gap is much smaller.

 
Next it's building the nose and tail feathers, then on to the engines.  More to come!

Hello, and welcome back!  
 
Happy to report that there has been significant progress since the last update.  I am super happy with this kit so far.  I desperately hoping I'm not jinxing things, but so far, it's going together with Tamiya-like quality.  The only issues I've encountered so far have more or less been of my own doing.  My only complaints - very minor though they are - are that sometimes the instructions are so small, it's hard to see how parts go together.  Again, very small complaint (pun fully intended).
 
After completing the nose gear, you move on to the nose gear well.  I've only glued a few pieces together here.  

 
Again, dry fit.  This, however, allowed me to glue the supporting strut on the nose gear now that I was able to fully establish the proper angle.



 
Once the nose gear bay is done, the instructions have you install the cockpit section on top of it.  I held off for now to ease painting.  After that, you move on to the upper turret.  This went together nicely and without any major surprises.  


 
I did find that when I tried to install the turret glass, it wouldn't fit.  With the forward portion positioned properly, there was interference that precented the rear portion from dropping onto the turret ring.

 
Sanding the two frame arms here and a little on the front of the turret ring allowed the glass to pop into place perfectly.

 
Perfection.

 
The rest of the turret went together flawlessly.  Instructions have you install the gun barrels at the end of the turret build.  This is, so far, the one place I can say I'm disappointed with the kit.  HKM has had a history of underwhelming detail on their MG barrels and this kit is no exception as you'll see later.  Suffice to say, I placed an order from Sprue Brothers today for the Quickboos B-17 .50 cal barrel kit.  

 
Once the turret is done, you move on to building the bombs and racks.  The PE here is nice and in the pics below the bombs are dry fit to the racks.  Again, everything went together very very nicely.


 
From there, you move on to the bomb bay.  The build itself is straight forward, but getting the left and right halves together is very challenging due to the number of attachment points.


 
My recommendation here is to fit all the parts onto one side piece, fit an end piece, fit the other side piece (aligning all the locating pins carefully), then doing the other end and top piece.

 
Once you get everything lined up, it more or less snaps into place.


 
With the bombs in place.


 
This is always a fun part of any a/c build - cutting the fuse halves off and getting them around.  

 
As some reviews have noted, there are a decent number of ejector pins throughout.  This is to be expected for pieces this big and for those of you triggered by EP marks, you may want to skip this thread for a while.  I'm not going to address most of these as they'll be completely invisible once the final assembly is done.  I included these photos for those of you who will address them and want to be prepared for what you'll be up against.


 
Most of the pin marks up front are obscured or covered by other parts, as you'll see.  

 
On to the build... The cockpit is nicely detailed and the fit is flawless.  Pretty much everything has a unique pin or recess that marks its location.  


 
After completing the sidewall build, you move onto the rear fuselage.  Instructions aren't super clear on where to install the framing for the turret (the holed piece in the top left of this photo), so I ended up installing it incorrectly.  There are also three ejector pins that interfere with the fit of the sidewall piece, so I scraped them off and...

 
... viola!  The sidewall piece is now installed correctly.  And here, I've fixed the turret framing.  Make sure it sits directly on top of the three vertical ribs as shown below.

 
With the right fuse done, we move onto the left.  Some of the instructional drawings could use a revision as - at 1:1 scale - some of the lines overlap to the point of being very unclear.  Just for the record H70 goes in the middle slot, H67 goes on the outboard slot.

 
Here's the left side of the fuse fully detailed and with included nose weight installed.


 
Moving onto the rear fuse, you repeat the turret framing and the and the lower side pieces.  You add a few bulkheads and ancillary bits, then you're pretty much done.  Most everything here is dry fit to aid in painting.



 
The last step before gluing the two fuse halves together is to build the lower gun.  Again, this is one place where HKM is a bit underwhelming.  You can see here the .50 for the belly and its barrel.  If you're super concerned about details here, you might want to look into an aftermarket .50 and barrel.  This will likely be invisible once the kit is fully realized, so I will settle for replacing the barrel with the QB set I ordered.  But yeah... not HKM's finest work.  

 
That said, the main fuse is complete and will be moved to the paint booth.  I've pointed out a few week spots and negative points here and there, but I can't stress how nice this build has been so far.  Everything fits cleanly and with a solid, positive, nearly click-together fit.  The typical problem areas like wing roots, fuse halves, and cowlings are still on the horizon, so I'll reserve final judgment until I tackle those areas, but I'm cautiously optimistic.  
 
Bottom line, if you're on the fence about this kit, just snag one.  It's pretty phenomenal.
 

Hi, everyone!  Because I just can't stop building big twins for which I have precisely zero room, it's time to add the HKM A-20G Havoc to the display shelf!  My SprueBrothers pre-order just arrived today (sans the promised mask set, which SB is already fixing) after several months' waiting.  To say I'm excited for this kit is an understatement.  I have a soft spot for SW Pacific gunships and when I heard that HKM was doing an A-20G, I vowed that it would be a bench clearer... and here we are.
 
My aim for this is to build the kit out of the box with the exception of the paint scheme and markings which will likely be custom done via my mask cutter.  I will be doing something from the SW Pacific, but exactly what is yet to be decided.  My super awesome wife bought me the Pacific Profiles A-20 volume for Father's day, so that should be here soon and will help me decide which aircraft I want to model.  
 
I'm going to try to document pretty much every step as I go along so that those who follow in my footsteps may learn from my (admittedly often self-induced) mistakes.
 
Here's the box.  Everything is nicely packed and arrived unharmed.  Note the nose weights in the small bag stapled to the inner box (far left, just barely visible).

 
I like the way HKM seals their bags.  The adhesive strip on a flap makes it easy to get at the sprues without having to cut everything out.

 
Everything is out, organized and ready to go.  I'm not going to dive into detail on the sprue layout or molding quality as that's been covered in quite a few places in the run up to release.

 
Steps 1 and 2 have you build the cockpit.  Here is the factory seat and PE seatbelt.  The PE is nice and thin and, after annealing, sat nicely.  Note that I think the lap belts are illustrated backwards in the instruction manual.  I believe I have them placed correctly here with the square tip across the seat and the triangular anchor at the side of the seat.  The instructions are a little small for the seatbelt PE, so take your time and test fit.  It's not overly complex like an HGW set, so it's fairly straight forward, but for some reason, the way the instructions were laid out for the PE was hard for my brain to visualize.

 





 
Basic dry fit.  I tend not to glue bulkheads together until I can see how they slot into the fuselage halves.  Nothing like getting all the way through an interior build just to find that you glued them together incorrectly and now the interior parts don't fit into the attachment points of the fuselage.  

 
The armor plate aft of the pilot.  This part contained the only ejector pin marks that I've thus far felt compelled to cleanup.  Ejector marks don't bother me too much if they're in an area that won't be seen after construction, so I don't bother cleaning them up.  There are a few on the aft bulkhead behind the seat, but they'll be invisible, so there they shall stay.

 
And the doodads and whatsits behind the pilot's rear bulkhead.

 
Step three has you move on to the nose landing gear.  It goes together well without any major fuss, though the fit of part H54 (the little knob sticking up off the side of the strut isn't super well illustrated in the instructions.  

 
You can see it more clearly in these shots.  On H54, there is a small cutout for a corresponding knob on the gear strut which wasn't obvious in the instructions until I got out my magnifying glass.  Here you can see it in the proper position.



 
The nose landing gear fully assembled (but mostly dry fit).  

 
The nose tire has very nice molding detail for the treads and sidewalls.  The hub is keyed to the yoke so that the tire's flat spot (presumably) sits right where it'll need to.  You can just see the flat spot on the bottom of the "axle" which provides the key in the photo below.

 
Here we have the instrument panel.  A decal is provided for the instruments, so we'll see how that turns out.  I've had mixed luck with decals over IPs in the past.  If I were patient (I'm not), I would have waited on building this kit till I could get the aftermarket IP that... someone... (I forget) is coming out with soon.  Outside of that, the molded detail is very nice and crisp and should paint up splendidly.  I've left everything dry fit here so just in case the decal IP goes to hell in a handbasket, I can replace with aftermarket as necessary.
 
This pic also shows some of the detail molded onto the back of the seat... which will absolutely never be seen once the cockpit is together.  
 

 
That's it for tonight.  I'm pretty jazzed on this one, so I intend to move pretty quickly on it.  Be sure to follow along!

This is what the interior looks like before sealing. I looked at other accounts and fitted a load, the barrel ends were also cut off because they would get in the way when painting. Also there was a problem with the instrument panel, which I simply moved forward and the problem was over. Just when I thought I had solved all the problems, I had to move the sight downwards, which I did, because the glass didn't fit. The interior is now complete.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Hello
 
Here is my latest built (completed some times ago actually...)
 
It is the HKM 1/48 B-17G. A pleasant built.
Addons :
Eduard PE for the inside + space for the cockpit
Eduard Brassin exhaust pipes, turbochargers and wheels
Eduard bronze landing gears
Master gun barrels
Superscale Decals
 
It is my first kit painted with an airbrush... I used Tamyia paints.
 
Sorry for the poor quality of the picts, I had to take them with my phone as the model is way too big for the lighting box.
 











 
 
 

It would be cool to build...   but populating it with figures to bring it to life might be more than I could do.  The most figures I have done for any one build was nine.  But that's a fraction of what would be required to bring life to that monster.

Zero interest in building that.