SinuheH

The battle of Isandlwana took place on the 22nd of January 1879 in Zulu Land, South Africa.
A British force of at least 1700 was out manoeuvred and out fought by a force of 20000 Zulus.
 All British soldiers who fought on foot were killed, approximately 1500  in total.
It is the worst defeat inflicted on a western army by tribal warriors.
Unfortunately the victory was a Pyrrhic one. 
The Zulu's casualties were 3000 warriors killed, and ultimately it saw the destruction of their nation. 
 
Figures are white metal from Beneito Miniatures in 54mm.
They were painted with Humbrol enamels.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking 
Angelo
 

Excellent build, like the fine details in cockpit and engine.
 
Congrats!

Excellent job on a really ancient kit.

This is 1/32 Hasegawa P-47M with the markings of “Josephine / My flying machine” from 62FS 56 FG in Boxted January 1945
Cockpit modified with Aires cockpit set and Yahu instrument panel.
Wheels are from Barracudacast
I have used Zots decals set (ZTZ32/013)
Paints: Gunze Sangyo acrylics and Alclad lacquers.
Happy modelling
 



 
 














 

Stunning build!

Hi folks, here is my resurrection of an old partly-built Matchbox 1/32 Bf109E-3. The kit was given to me by a friend who had it left to him by a housemate way back when and had been sitting in storage for however many decades. It was just what I needed to get me going again after a nearly 2 year absence from the bench.
 
This venerable old kit, first produced in 1977, is a piece of modelling history so I couldn't resist building it as is with no aftermarket parts and just a few tweaks to things I couldn't ignore (although nothing I couldn't have done in 1977). It has a lot of age-related shortcomings (don't we all!), but I think Matchbox did a wonderful job with the form and lines of the Emil given the technology at the time.
 
The scheme I chose is the mount of Uffz Karl Wolff of 3./JG 52 based in Calais during 1940. He crash landed Yellow 15 on August 30 1940 and was later shot down and bailed out over Sussex on 30 September 1940 in Yellow 14, becoming a prisoner for the remainder of WWII. 
 

 

 
No aftermarket items were used apart from Montex masks for painting of markings. Paints were largely Gunze and Tamiya acrylics and weathering was with oils, enamels, and salt fading. The full build thread can be found here:
 
 
 
So chuck on some ABBA, break out the fondue set and I hope you enjoy the trip back to 1977...
 
Cheers, Kirby
 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 







 
 

Very impressive build! And what a subject. The story of how those B-25s came to be is really interesting. The Saga of the Fifth Air Force under George Kenney is really amazing. He took a broken, demoralized and spread our Air Force when he was sent to be MacArthur's Air Force Officer, and turned it into the most formidable Air Force of the war. Not just in the Pacific. MacArthur let him run the Fifth how he wanted and he turned it into an amazing fighting force and he had some true aviation Pioneers working for him. One who didn't even had a pilots license, who joined up in the Philippines named Pappy Gunn.  He also had our two top scoring aces, Bong(40) and McGuire(38). 
 
Gunn's family was trapped in the Philippines and having joined up in an odd way, General Kenney had to pull some strings to get him rated as a pilot.  He and Kenney were really the master minds of putting the machine guns in the nose, and working out how to make it all work.  If I recall right, they sent him to North American to help with the factory produced versions. If I recall right he and Kenney came up with skipping bombing using these aircraft, and Kenney was big in the development of the original retard bomb, 100 pound frag bombs with a parachute, to keep them from hitting right under the bomber.  These units savaged Japanese shipping and airfields. 
 
Kenney wrote a book about Gunn, called the Saga of Pappy Gunn, and I think its in print again. He also wrote a book about Richard Bong, and he turned his own notes from the war into a book called General Kenney's reports. I have it for download http://www.theshermantank.com/wp-content/uploads/General-Kenney-Reports-a-personal-History-of-the-Pacific-War-By-George-C-Kenney.pdf, and its a fascinating read. Since it's based on his notes, its not perfectly accurate history, but its still very interesting. 
 
Kenney had to run his air-force on a shoe string at first, and had to beg for P-38s. He also went to great lengths to keep the planes he had running, including sending teams to wrecks in the mountains and other remote places in New Guinea. Because so much of New Guinea had no roads, but trucks were still useful in forward areas, he came up with teams that learned hot to cut the trucks into air transportable chunks, that would be flown to forward bases and put back together. He wanted to maximize his sortie rate with his transports, he had special teams that could unload and load aircraft at very rapid rates. That practiced on a wrecked fuselage and got it down to a finely tuned routine.  He even snuck an airfield within fighter range of a very large Japanese base complex. 
 
It's a little sad very few people know who General George kenney was, or what his role in shaping aerial warfare was. His Air War in the South Pacific was far more interesting than the war the 8th waged over Europe. 
 

This is my rendition of B-25J s/n 43-36199, as it would have appeared in late spring, 1945 in the Philippines. At the time, it was serving in the 501st Bomb Squadron of the 345th Bomb Group - the famed "Air Apaches." This group was famous for transforming the B-25 from a medium altitude bomber, to a low-level attack aircraft. With eight forward-firing M2 .50 caliber machine guns in the nose, and a potent bomb load, strafer B-25s savaged Japanese shipping all throughout the Pacific campaigns.
 
This particular aircraft had its nose reconfigured to the strafer configuration in the field and it was never repainted. At some point before the reference photos, its right rudder was replaced, leaving only part of the unit insignia and tail number. Oddly, the reference photos show the vertical stabilizer to be darker than the replacement rudder, so I tried to capture that here. I recently traded a member here my glass nose version for his strafer kit, and below is the result.  Thanks, Reuben! 
 
This is the HK Models 1/32 kit with a significant number of add-ons.  I used Eduard photoetch sets for the cockpit, bomb bay, and fuselage in addition to their resin wheel kit. I also included AMS resin props, G-Factor brass landing gear, Master Model brass .50cal MG barrels, and EagleCals aftermarket decals for the kill marks, crew names, and tail insignia. All national insignia and markings are custom made on my stencil cutter.  Paints were MRP, Tamiya, and Vallejo.  Weathering was a mix of everything - MIG enamel washes & pigments, oils, silver pencils, airbrush, etc.  
 
I really threw the kitchen sink at this one.  Hope you like it. 
 

 
Reference photos taken just after a crash landing:

 

 
199 in happier times:





























































 
 
 

It is easy to get sidetracked when researching the A6M2. It will inevitably lead the enthusiastic reader to Canada, which it did in my case. I didn't know that Mitsubishi's competitor Nakajima built Zero's, or that there were subtle (and obvious) ways of knowing the difference. One of those differences, the white surround to the Hinomaru, was one of the major features I wanted to incorporate in this build, since it highlights the dark shade of the grey with which the Zero was painted. Then I discovered the concept of the Houkoku presentation number, and that became number two on the wish list!  
 
How does this research end up in Canada you may ask? In 1968 an enterprising Canadian from Manitoba went in search of wreckage on Ballale Island in the Western Solomon Islands, and he hit the Nakajima built Houkoku A6M2 motherload. Three of them! They were chopped up (along with a Val), and carried out of the jungle by local labour, put onto boats and by the most amazing feat of horse trading ended up on Friendship Field in Carman, Manitoba. Their story is pretty complicated, but ends up in a collection of artefacts owned by the Blayd Corporation, also from Carman. A name that kept surfacing around these aircraft and research about them is Ryan Toews - another Canadian. Ryan's tweak list for building both of the Tamiya Zero's is a must read for anyone attempting these kits, and he has been a veritable gold mine of information for this project. You can see his contributions in the build thread, along with all the other information about the construction and painting that I won't rehash here. 
 
Since the tails of these aircraft were not attached to the wrecks, it is pure speculation at this stage to assign any identity other than the construction number. The aircraft is pictured soon after delivery to the island, having been assembled and test flown, awaiting the painting of unit identification.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A final salute...
 

 
Sean

Hey everyone,
   It's been a while since I posted a build here.  I'm not good enough to be a slow builder, but there has been a lot of armor and other scale stuff that I've spent time on.   Once in a while, there is a photo that pops up that just know you must do.  Sometimes, I find that other modellers have already beat me to the punch, and I need to find another scheme.  I did Wollf's D.Va by WNW a couple years ago, and although I enjoyed every minute of it, I felt like I was just 'assembling' somebody else' fantastic work once finished.  This has caused me to give away the remainder of the Green Tail Trilogy decals.
 
Likewise with this Fokker D.VII.  This kit is actually the Fokker D.VII (Alb).  But I have dressed it up as a Fokker D.VII (OAW).   And here is my inspiration photo:

I've probably gotten quite a few things wrong...  but what else can you do when you have one picture?  Guesswork.  And a little help from some people who know more.  Anyway...  here are my results:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Thank you for looking!

Hello all, I hope you all have been surviving lockdown by modelling-on.....this is the second Jug of lockdown. 
 
I set about Trumpeters P-47D Razorback version this time and found that the Razorback was a bit more of a drama than the Double top version, I think it maybe a different mould completely. Its a little tricky to get together and line up, but as long as you proceed slowly with the build, you should be fine. 
I added a few aftermarket pieces, these were the resin wheels by Brassin and the gun barrels set from Master (32115) and I get rid of the metal seatbelts and made my own from masking tape as I can never get the photo etch belts to 'sit' right. Paints were from Gunze Mr Colour range and as ever.....are brilliant. 
I added some magnets into the wing where the pylons attach, then added some magnets in the pylons so the lower wing is untouched for displaying without the pylons attached or kept clean. 
 
So here is aircraft 42-75242 which was flown by Capt Michael Quirk flying for 62nd FS/56th FG, Halesworth.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I'll add a link to the Bubbletop.....
Thanks for looking :-) 
 
 
 

I've FINALLY finished this one and all I can say is "Good riddens"!  This kit was not a fun build and with the piecemeal style build of the ZM kit, this one was a bear to get reasonably correct.  I managed to screw up the left and right wings when  assembling and had to correct (remove about 1/16" from subsequent assemblies going forward) parts fit as the build progressed.  If you have this kit please take note that when you assemble the wing bottoms to the spar assembly, install the center section first and make absolutely sure it's centered or you might wind up like mine did.  I replaced the 20mm wing guns with brass tube and the prop is a HD VS9.  It's painted (somewhat ham-handed I'll admit) as yellow 2 from III, JG301 in the early part of 1945.  I was going to build wooden flaps but I got impatient with the build and decided to model them up so I could get on with it.  I filled all the panel lines on the tail to represent the Ta152 wooden tail.  It's not known how many Ta152H's were fitted with the wooden tail but this one is (based on the Hitchcock Ta152 text and profile therein of Yellow 2).  It's not some of my best work but it's ok.  My Nikon D3400 catches little white dots that I can't really see with my eyes.  I haven't a clue where these come from but surmise that they're from the Testor's Dullcote I used (the white dots on the canopy are the dessicant packs (decals) and are supposed to be there).  The mottling on the fuselage only came out so-so and after having messed with air pressures and paint consistencies until I was sick of it, I just settled on the best I could get from my old Passche H and you'll noticed paint spatter.  Afterward, I went out and purchased an Iwata gravity feed airbrush so the next time I do mottling, I may have a bit better luck.   I used Testor's enamel RLM 76, Floquil RLM 82 (its actually labeled as RLM 83 but I guess it's now accepted that 83 was dark green and 82 was bright green), and White Ensign Models (now Sovereign Hobby or something like that) RLM 83.  The WEM RLM 83 looks more like RLM81 to my eye.  Oh, decals are from the awesome Eagle Editions sheet and really are a vast improvement over the kit decals.  I added pastel exhaust stains and general staining after  these photos were taken.
 
Oh well, on the with photos....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Nice work - look forward to seeing the finished model.

Stunning model - congrats on a fine build.

Entering into the foray of my first full resin kit build, I decided on the 189 as its an unusual subject very rarely modelled in any scale let alone gods own 1/32. 
 
I have to say, I really enjoyed putting this together and while I did have a few issues of my own doing, generally, if the clean up is done correctly, it goes together well with few fit issues. 
The problem areas i encountered were around the following areas. 
 
Where the booms attach to the underside of the wings, a gap needs to be dealt with. 
The glazing at the rear of the fuselage  where the transition from square to round took me an age to deal with. its still not spot on but this was more likely a me issue rather than the kit itself. 
The section of upper fuselage was undersized and needed considerable shimming and re alignment to mate with the glazed areas. Again its not spot on but its good enough for government work as they say. 
 
First time with a HPH kit. The glazing was weird, being soft and maleable polypropelene (i Think) they gould be bent easily without cracking or other damage.
 
There are other mistakes I have made but for anyone who is thinking of building this kit, do it, just ensure you take your time and dry fit multiple times before committing to glue. Anyhow, on with the show. 
 
Based VERY VERY loosely on this colour scheme, 
 
   
 
Here we go. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I present my Roden Fokker Dr.1 (before Meng gets theirs out).  This is Josef Jacobs' ride, complete with a Clerget 9B engine (captured from Copper State Models), extra braces on the landing gear, God of the North Wind graphic taken from an enhanced photo of Jacobs' plane, and the cowling is made from aluminum I spun on my lathe.  Jacobs' plane was a glossy black, as well.  There is a build log on ww1 aircraftmodels.com.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking and comments are welcome.
 

I've gotta admit I'm not the best at keeping up with in progress pictures, but now it's done. What WIP pictures there are is in the WIP thread
 
Zlatko Stipcic was an Croatian ace who flew this machine for at least one victory before it was flow by Vladimir Sandtner to Falconara in Italy, where it was extensively photographed. As a croatian Stipcic fits into my current theme 'aces of the smaller nations in WWII' - more are on the way
 
Hope you enjoy
 
As
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Nice work - looks good to me - always had a soft spot for IAF F-16's.

Nice work - excellent model and great figures - TFS. 

Following is my recently completed Bf109 E-4 representing a I/JG27 aircraft.  It is one of my contributions in the Battle of Britain Group Build and you can see both the build log and more photos in that thread.  I opted to show the aircraft as moderately worn and the simple diorama attempts to tell the story of a pilot preparing for  yet another sortie over England.  The kit is a DLM offering and I built the model mostly OOB, only using HGW seatbelts, a Henri Dähne prop and some AM decals, both the wet transfer type and the normal type.  I also did some very limited scratchbuilding in the cockpit, the antenna and (because I was forced to) one of the wheel well canvas covers.
 
Ernest
 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all,
 
I want to show you my recently finished F16 Sufa.
A very nice kit to build, unfortunately I F23ked up the very last decal, being one of the big decals on the vertical stabilizer.
But a replacement decal question on this forum all worked out. A big thanks to Peter Gregor, Kagemusha, Oeguy and Helmsman who all offered help!
It is not one of my best builds (or photo's) but I am more than happy with the result.
 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, a matte spot appeared on the canopy, I have no clue how it ended up there.
Luckily it isn't visible from the position were it is parked!
I hope you like it.
 
With regards,
Rob
 

Yep, you're right, thanks for the history lesson, cheers!
 

I believe there were a few. They were in service with the SAAF postwar. 

Hi all, 
 
I've been working very slowly on this Airfix Spitfire for the last few weeks and months. I was prepared for some of the fit issues before starting but even so, haven't found it a particularly enjoyable build, hence the time it's taking to finish. 
 
The cockpit is nice, but over engineered and some of the smaller parts have a vague fit. 
 

 
I added belts - not entirely correct, but better than nothing. Once painted and weathered, the cockpit does look pretty good though to be fair. 
 

 

 

 
As expected, the joints at the wing roots weren't great and the upper part of the cowling didn't fit well either. I battled through, and I'm now at the painting stage. Undersides were painted with Vallejo blue and upper camo with Mr Hobby Aqueous paints. 
 

 
 

 
I'm working towards applying the decals now... 
 
Thanks for looking 
 
Matt