Lee White

Well Said That Man! 100% Kev. 
 
I can only agree that along with a one or two other artists Roy’s influence over a whole generation of kids was utterly remarkable. Along with the ‘Dogfight Double’ Mosquito being chased by two Me262’s, this 1968 image of Free French Blenheim MkIV’s by Roy was the one that entranced me for years.  I kept both box tops above my workbench for a long time.

 
If there were a GB in honor of Roy Cross, I’d sign up for it: The only rule being that you have to build the markings of the aircraft on the box top. Sadly there is no 1/32 Blenheim MKIV…..but there is a Mosquito and a 262…(or could we have an exception to LSP’s in one GB and build whatever Airfix Kit  in whatever scale we have that features his inimitable artwork)? Just thinking out loud. 

 
Kind regards,
Paul
 
 
 

Here is my personal favorite-
 

 
 

Tried twice to buy, but clicking on the PayPal link takes me to totally unrelated links.

Here is my personal favorite-
 

 
 

While letting things dry during my coffee break I couldn’t resist the urge to start planning out just how I’ll tackle the nose art. So far it looks like a stencil using some leftover vinyl of the figure. I need to get to a art store and source a quality art pen/paint pen for the intricate outline work.  

 

I'm not buying it unless it's "Molded in Color".
 
Tony

Oh, my suggestion was distinctly tongue-in-cheek!

We have a winner
 

 
something you don't see that often, not to mention in our scale
 
Regards
- dutik

Hollywood MiG-31?

OK so the real update
 
For this build I will be using the kit decals and making a CF-104 with red tip tanks, why red you ask, well because I'm foiling this plane and the tanks are a PITA to get right , plus the kit tanks are literally the worst part of the kit with bad seams and terrible fit and nothing show you defects like NMF!
 
In addition, I have the amazing Reskit exhaust and wheels and the Blackbox cockpit. Using @chuck540z3 amazing WIP thread as a reference I've got everything dry-fitted and ready to go in.
 
Cockpit work
I thinned down the bottom and the side and made some mods to the rear bulkhead. Have the base coat in and this is going to be the focus for the next couple weeks to finish up and squeezed into the fuselage 

 
Since i hate doing cockpits i took a detour and painted and decaled the tail and tip tanks 

this pic suck but bare with me

 
 
Following Chucks build I worked the intakes into submission, got some foil in the hard-to-get spots first. next upo is getting rid f the top panel line that should not be there!
Thanks Chuck! 

 
 
Made some progress on the tail , the clear parts for the light are a joke so I remade them using UV resin and then painted them from the rear

 
And we have foil ! Dont worry it will look better once I'm done. my foiling process is foil , burnish, sand, polish then grain

 
This is what it looks like after polishing 

 
 

Coroguard painted on the undersides now:
 

 
Just the silver bits and engines to go, and that's the paint job done (minus a few touch-ups on the white). Oh, I mustn't forget the APU exhaust!
 
I've also assembled the wheels, which was a bit of a trial. They're currently awaiting some paint, and not worthy of a photo right now.
 
More soon!
 
Kev

F8U-3 Super Crusader in 1/24--the best Navy fighter never to go into production
RF-101C Voodoo, 1/24, easily the best looking version of the Voodoo
RA-5C Vigilante, 1/24, because Viggie has always been just about the most beautiful jet to ever find itself on a carrier deck
 
I'd also go positively nuts for a 1/24 scale B-47, but that's definitely not above those three...
 
 
 

Yup… a 1/32 Sunderland is huge!
 
 
 

I know it may not matter to many of you, but I lost a good old friend this past weekend, at the age of 100. He was a veteran of the USAAC in WW2, served with the 474th FG, 428th FS, as an assistant crew chief working on P-38 Lightings. He was fantastic human being, and a good friend, and I will miss him. Archie Lee Stuck. He is the reason I love P-38s so much.
 
Tim

Phew……..as long as the document wasn’t discovered at Mar-a-Lago I’m good ……

Ahem.  I discovered recently while reading highly redacted documents found in old boxes in a garage next to a Corvette with four flat tires that the development and employment of this particular airplane during the Great Unpleasantness included a very classified night interdiction version that evolved at about the same time.  It met with no press but considerable success.  USAF boffins rerouted the exhaust system from the engine through a series of mufflers in the area where the old turbocharger used to be, significantly reducing engine noise.  In hopes of reducing prop noise, at least one was modified to use an experimental five blade propeller that was said to have been stolen from a Sea Fury parked on the ramp at Reno.  Affectionally called Blunderbolts because they flew low and slow at night hoping to stumble onto a target, these airplanes sported a distinctive SEA over black paint scheme and often worked in pairs.  One would carry specialized pods of parachute flares while the other had a more typical anti equipment/anti personnel load out.  The airplanes carrying the flares were called either Sunderbolts or Lightningbolts because they turned the night into day so that the guy flying the armed version had some hope of actually hitting something besides a water buffalo out for an evening stroll.  The jury is out as to whether these two versions of the airplane you are so ably modeling were as successful as legends tell us because none survived the war.  Or at least none survived that anyone will admit.  In the last few years, there have been several unconfirmed reports of at least one pair of Blunderbolts operating at night out of Area 51, working with a similarly camoed, nicely restored B-58.  And a decade or so before that, an oddly painted, much modified P-47 raised eyebrows when it arrived unannounced at Oshkosh only to be immediately covered with a fumigation tent by several fit young men with crewcuts and sunglasses then flown out in the wee hours of the night before anyone could actually see it.  It was said to have won several awards for authenticity, but did it?  Obviously, there are no known photographs of any of these airplanes so you will have take my word for it.  I would cite my sources, but I doubt you have the clearances necessary to see them, being a double foreigner and all.

Great progress on this one Kriss!
 
 
I'm really getting tempted by the Eduard rebox of the old Classic Airframes kit to do an SCW bird. Your build might just tip the scales for me
 
 
 
Matt 

If you've never watched the Halifax documentary on Netflix (or is it Amazon Prime?), do so. It will make you fall in love with that aircraft even more. With that being said, I want one. Heck, I'd be happy with one in 1/48 that isn't made by Fonderie Miniatures.
 
- Dennis S.
   Mount Juliet, TN USA

Stearman
Fw190A
EE Lightning

Must be something in the air (or to do with people named Kevin!) 
 
These came through the post today, so this is a placeholder for now.
 

 

 
Derek

I received word today that Hannants had received my back ordered 1/32 HpH Nakajima B5N2 Kate, along with the 3D printed engine, cockpit and bomb sets. So I went ahead and purchased it all— it wasn’t cheap, but I did get 10% off for back-ordering it. The shipping by air across the pond to the USA cost a whole lot less than I was expecting and budgeting for— which was serendipitous.
So, I’m finally getting a long-awaited 1/32 Kate! If someone else hasn’t done so first, I’ll plan on submitting a report of sorts on this kit when I receive it. 
In one sense, I can’t believe it is on its way….!

There are so many wonderful posts on this thread already! I’ll try to contribute a little something worthwhile.
 
Salvador Dali once famously said “Don’t worry about perfection, you’ll never reach it” and the same could be said for ‘accuracy’ because even if one is building an exact 1:1 replica of the real thing, some compromises will be inevitable. As we get smaller in scale the compromises we all have to make get ever bigger. But whatever compromises we make: what we do should always be enjoyable or else why are we doing it?
 
There is a continuum or hierarchy of model making which is usually dictated by experience (and before anyone gets upset there is nothing wrong with being in any of these groups):
1. Those who are working to assemble a kit they bought without a major mess-up and get it painted and decalled according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 
2. Those who are working to assemble a kit and have it painted and decalled according to some of their secondary source research. 
3. Those who work to build a kit and modify it somewhat according to their primary and secondary source research. This is to further approach a more accurate representation of the overall shape and details of a chosen aircraft type. They then have it painted, decalled and weathered according to their research.
4. Those who are willing and able to wholesale modify a kit to get a particular kit to model a particular airframe at a particular time and who will do a great deal of  primary and secondary source research to enable them to paint, decal and weather their chosen subject.
5.  Scratch builders who do extensive, independent primary source research, who experiment with many methods and materials in creating a one-off and who can create components in a variety of media and can paint, decal, weather their subject in an entirely controlled manner to achieve the result they want.
 
Every one of these groups is represented here. The great thing about LSP is that each group tends to help the others: Group 1 to remind the other four to ‘Just put a model together and have fun like you did when you were a kid!’ Group 4 to help people in groups 1,2 and 3 how they overcame problems when they were less experienced. Group 5 to show to everyone the art of the possible. I won’t list all possible combinations but you get the picture.
 
There are two schools that work within those groups (and the Venn diagram that represents these two groups has a healthy overlap).
A. ‘Realists’: Fidelity to the real original is all: This group would be likely to match colours to chip samples using RLM or Federal Standards. Everyone from group 2 on through 5 could belong here. Modellers like Paul Budzik tend to reside in this space.
B. ‘Artists’: Creating the right impression is all. This group would be likely to simply choose colours from a palette because they simulated particular light conditions or took account of scale or wanted to create an impression of a deeper cockpit opening. The ‘Spanish School’ tend to reside in this group.
 
I mostly belong in groups 1 and 2 and occasionally I venture into 3. Like @mozart I try to get it ‘as accurate as I can’ and like @Stokey Pete I try to have fun while I do that. I get my ambition from @airscale (wow) and sense of perspective and new subjects to research from @Christa (thank you buddy), my hope that I too can do more challenging work from @tomprobert , collaboration from @europapete and awareness of what the industry does and how to correct what they don’t do well from @thierry laurent. And I thank the moderators who keep here the best modelling site on the planet.
 
Are my models ‘accurate’? Nope. But each is as well made as I can do it at the time and I enjoy every minute of it. That is not only due to the building and painting process itself but also down to the great community here. Thank you all.
 
Kind regards,
Paul.

I rarely build anything based on an actual plane.
 
All about being bussy and enjoyment.