Phantom2

I´m very dissapointed You´re dropping Humbrol from Your colorcharts! But I can understand why, but Please, ALWAYS give us the RLM, BS, FS, RAL etc. and the official name! I love Your kits and I hope You will release many of my favorites, you have done an excellent start so far! Stefan

Oh Yes, Christa, I really do! I have built the Lysander and the Warhawk, both old Matchbox kits and they are really fun builds, and I have several others to go. But If a newcomer buys an old sparsley detailed, ill-fitting kit in a new shiny box, will he ever buy a Revell-kit again? I wouldn´t... But If the manufacturer are honest and say "Hey Beware, this is an old tooling from the -60´s, have fun", on the box, then I can decide for myself! Much like Airfix does, let the consumer decide and no one needs to feeling cheated and robbed. Stefan

Hi all! I started the build with some” destructive” building, by removing moulded detail in preparation for the etched parts. I glued the fuselage sides with the respective tail boom part, it´s usually easier to get a nice join between the parts this way. This is a VERY small helicopter, even though the scale Is 1/35th! The cockpit and cabin start to come together, almost as many etched parts as plastic! It´s crowded in the rear seat! After a few tests, I decided to go ahead and glue the fuselage together. I also glued the engine covers in place and I got an almost perfect fit here! The fit on the underside is… so-so… I glued in some plastic strips as reinforcements of the bottom join, just to be sure… Note that I have not glued the top join yet! The join will be OK, but I´ll loose allmost all the nice rivetting. The skids are glued in place, the clothespin are only to hold the nose down, this will require some ballast to avoid a tail sitter! The tail rotor mount and the tail fins assembled, a very fiddly part of this build, It would have been a trait to have four arms! But it turned out to be very strong when the glue had dried! More to come soon! Stefan

Yes, you can find Hasegawa, New ICM, Old Matchbox, New Special Hobby and Even Older Monogram kits in new, shiny Revell-boxes. That´s why I´ll recommend to check the kits on Scalemates! https://www.scalemates.com/ Otherwise, they are as a box with chocolates(?), You´ll never know what you get in a Revell-box... I have found out the hard way.... Stefan

All of the ICM kits are wonderful, fit very well and are resonable priced. Hasegawa´s line of newer kits (-80´s and 90´s vintage) are really good and well detailed, very good fit and fun builds, but they are quite basic and the decals are so-so, check Scalemates! Revells newer kits (Spitfire Mk.IX, Hurricane, Fw190A-8, Me 262, Bf109G-6/10 & G-2/4, BaE Hawk) are all quite good kits, but check Scalemates first. In many Revell boxes you can find old Hasegawa kits (no bad thing at all in fact), once again, check Scalemates! The newer Special Hobby kits are what I call "short-run light", compareble to -90´s Airfix, no location pins but fit and detail are very good, good decals. Trumpeter/Hobbyboss are generally good kits, good fit and well detailed, and accuracy might vary, decals are usable but so-so. PCM/Azur/Infinity/Fly and Older Special Hobby kits are "pure" short-run, usually pretty good fit but these kits can or will demand work and some modelling skills. But even if they are more work, they are very, very rewarding builds! Stefan

WOW, absolutley wonderful and beautiful! ...and just a "little" crazy and whacky! I want a set of decals! Stefan

Hi Zac! I have not tested the fit of the glass parts yet, but thanks for the heads-up! So far, It have been a nice build with pretty good fit, but Italeri does not joke about the weight, this chopper needs it! Stefan

Hi Dennis! Yeah, I usually mix a dark grey with some black. My favourite mix is Extra Dark Sea Grey mixed with Matt Black, usually Humbrol enamels (123/33). More grey if it´s a WWII plane, more black if it´s modern. Stefan

Thanks all! Wheels and tailwheel painted with Alclad Aluminium…. …and painted Tire Black, not good enough, I´ll have to paint them again. A new, better hatch with much better detail has been purchased from Barracuda Cast, I just LOVE those small sets from Roy! There´s two landing lights in the kit, one on each side, but I can only see that this variant have the light on the left wing tip. The landing light have been painted amber (on the back/inside) and glued to the wing… To get some “shine” behind the glass I´ll use some Aluminium foil (shiny side down) and then I masked the front (outside) with a tape mask. On the other side I glued the glass into the wing, filled and sanded smooth. All interior parts painted British Interior Green (Hu.78)… The fuselage insides painted with the same paint, Hu.78 IG… The wheel wells and the interiors of the cooler as well… The fronts of the coolers had been painted Matt Black (Hu.33) before… The exhausts and the crowbar have been painted Alclad Steel…. The crowbars in the Spitfire was either Steel, Interior green or black, NEVER red! A close-up on the decals I intend to use for this build, It`ll be YB o A, with the white gauntlet (decal #18) on the nose. Small blue roundels, Burma camouflage, blue spinner, clipped wingtips and white 18inch bands over wings, stabilators and fin will It be. The decals are beautifully printed by Catograf, top-notch quality! More to come soon! Stefan

Blue skies, Brian! My condolences to you and your family. Stefan

Yes, I was thinking of Dana Bell! My bad, I´m ashamed, I had a senior moment, sorry! But I admire much of your work anyway! Stefan

OK! By the way, I have your book on the Douglas Devastator, a magnificent and very well done book! Thanks for writing this wonderful book on one of my favourite aircraft! I´m building the Trumpeter 1/32 kit right now, a pretty good kit so far and your book is the perfect companion! Stefan

Reskit is from Ukraine and their stuff is lovley (but not cheap), just sayin´... Stefan

No problems from Sweden! Stefan

Hi all! My choice for this GB will be the Hughes OH-6 Loach (or Cayuse), also known as Little Bird, a very small helicopter but used extensively in Vietnam and other countries. This kit is from 2000 and it´s originally a Dragon mold, reboxed by Italeri. Not many parts, two large and two smaller grey frames, one clear frame and a smallish decal sheet and a instruction leaflet. All parts are very nicely moulded and almost no flash on the parts, even though this kit was quite old when I bought it 2006. One of the large frames contains the fuselage halves and cockpit details… The other large frame contains the tail boom, skids and seats… Two smaller frames with armament and crew… One clear frame… The instructions comes in the usual “Italierian” A-4 format, accordion style. A small, but very nice decal sheet made by Zanchetti, one of the best decal makers in Italy (second only to Cartograf) and as the theme is “Jaws” I will do “Miss Clawd IV”. There´s not much in the way of aftermarket for this chopper, but I have an old Eduard set of the old style, unpainted with acetate Instruments. This will be fun, I have wanted to build this chopper for a long time now, and This GB gave me the perfect excuse to start! More to come soon! Stefan