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Howdy, folks. I haven’t got around to starting my Brigade TR9 conversion yet, but was rummaging in the loft the other day and found this - the classic Airfix 1/24 Spitfire MkV. Being inspired by @Erwin’s lovely rendition of his MkI, I thought why not..? Box art: All the parts are present to build the MkI which is my plan - I have ordered some decals to replicate N3200, which was famously shot down (after claiming a Stuka) during the evacuation of Dunkirk and buried on the sands over time at Sangatte, near Calais. Pilot Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Stevenson spent the remainder of the war as a POW. The remnants of the airframe were recovered in 1986 and in early 2007 restoration began to airworthy condition - it still resides at Duxford to this day wearing its 19 Squadron codes and has been restored to look exactly as it did when lost on 26th May 1940. So… this will be built largely OOB just as Airfix intended, although I have bought some Airscale instrument bezels to enhance the IP, some Eduard belts and I’ll box in the wheel bays using plastic card. There was lots of flash present - not surprising given its vintage - and the cockpit parts were quickly assembled. The rear fuselage got a spray of aluminium, as per references: The main cockpit was then sprayed up, a few bits and bobs such as Milliput seat cushions (modern pilots don’t like getting sore bottoms!) added so the fuselage is now ready to be buttoned up: I’m going to replicate the model as the modern day warbird so have kept everything absolutely immaculate like the real thing. I’m keeping the cowling buttoned up as the engine area is rather basic and lacking in detail and I want to actually get the build completed within the time frame of the GB - I don’t want to lose momentum or interest… More when there’s more… Tom

Hello All, Those of you that have seen my other build of three 1/32 Avro Lancasters will now know that I am still alive, just taking a break.. I have been asked by someone very special to build a 1/24 Spitfire with the subject being The Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXe, ML407, Sq Ldr John 'Johnnie' Houlton This of course is now 'The Grace Spitfire' The base kit of course is the 1/24 Airfix Mk.IXc Kit. I make no apologies if I call ML407 a she; such a beautiful aircraft with such a wonderful history; Before I start the build thread I need to say that I am totally inspired by Wolf's 1/32 Spitfire build, something to aspire to. THE FUSELAGE HALVES I took the fuselage halves, stripped them down to the level I needed and filled in the ejector marks. The intention is to show both fuel tanks so VERY carefully, I took the armour plating off as well. The TR9 will be shown so I removed the radio hatch door too. First things first was to design my own photo etch; I really wanted to show the hollow frame nature of her; I also used the templates from the 1/24 Spitfire Cockpit Download from The Hawaiian Air Depot Site; https://www.hawaiianairdepot.com/ After fitting the etching, 1,764 Rivets were individually placed using Quinta Studio Rivets of various sizes; She is going to be powered and lit up too so I managed to hide the cables behind the side walls. I am going to feed the power cables through the ground power connection. It was then a spray with Semi Matt Varnish to seal the rivets, a base coat of dull aluminium, chipping fluid then Ammo RAF Interior Green; Hope you like what you see so far, onto the frames and bulkheads! Thanks for looking... Cheers Steve

Hello, I present for inspection my build of Trumpeter's 1/24 A6M2 Type 21 Zero - which represents an aircraft from the Carrier Akagi which took place in the Pearl Harbour raid of 7th December 1941. As you may have guessed from the title, this is the first Trumpeter kit I have ever built. Most of my model-making experience has been in the "classic" Airfix 1/24 range and I must say, this was a pleasant build experience with everything going together nicely. It is mostly out of the box except for the Yahu instrument panel and Techmod decals. I also used some of Airscale's excellent cockpit decals. There is a lack of aftermarket parts for this kit so I also made my own seat straps and re-cast the rubber wheels in resin. I did also add extra detail to the engine (spark plug leads) but you can't really see this. The brake lines I thought were oversized so I used fuze-wire instead. Paint wise I used a combination of Vallejo Model Air 71.312 and AK11892, the later from what I've read being the most accurate. I lightened both in an attempt to give some tonal variation, particularly on the control surfaces - but this doesn't really come out in the pictures. The engine cowling is a blue-black for which I used AK11895. Weathering I wanted to keep to a minimum and appropriate to how it may have looked on return to the Akagi. I've read on numerous occasions that Trumpeter kits have shape/size issues - I think their Ju87 is oversized for example. In my research for this kit I did find an interesting article on this kit from a certain Greg Springer. He has examined the shape against original plans and found the cockpit to be around 3mm to high. He has laid out correction plans here but it requires major surgery along the length of the fuselage and I personally didn't fancy my chances of carrying it out without a major @$*! up... so if anyone has done it, I'd be extremely interested in how much difference it makes to the overall shape. Finally, these last two are in the display cabinet Thanks for looking.

OK, Proof of concept is complete. I have the patience and skill to build large scale planes from scratch. So without pause, I'm back at it with the Bearcat. It's not exactly starting today but it has now moved into #1 in the queue , so let's "Get it on". There is some history in other threads, some of which crashed due to the Photobucket hosting issues, but I'm just going to start fresh here with this thread and take it from here. To recap: I have done a considerable amount of work on the engine and landing gear using 3D designs I made so much of that is already behind me. I'm actually going to build the fuselage conventionally and not using 3D printing. So here's progress today getting that work underway. I really love doing this part quite a bit and have no regrets tossing the 3D work I did do in the bin. That's hobby birchwood (mostly used for R/C planes). The paper bulkheads in the pic will soon be made from birch too and then glued to the fuselage per the plan. I have some hi density foam I got online using the method that Ben "Starfighter" used for his C2A Greyhound and I have hopes that will work out better than my old method (tons of Magic Sculpt that takes a lifetime to sand) . Wish me luck. Done by Xmas???

Hello. When my 1/24 scale FW190 build hit a snag (should be recoverable), I didn't want to stop building - so I embarked on the classic Airfix 1/24 Scale Hawker Hurricane. One of my all time favourite aircraft. I originally built this kit as an over excited prepubescent kid during the 1970's and of course, as delighted as I was with it, it obviously looked like it had been built by an over excited prepubescent kid - with little glue control, his sisters nail sanders and over sized paint brushes. This time I hoped to do it more justice. The subject of my build is P3803 of 501 Squadron. This aircraft was lost off the coast near Ramsgate on 12th August 1940 with F/O Kazimierz Lukaszewicz (Polish) at the controls. Sadly neither he nor his aircraft were ever found. The build is mostly out of the box - except for the Yahu Instrument Panel, Barracuda Studios Resin tyres, and RB Productions Sutton Harness. The decals were to my own design and printed by https://www.custom-model-decals.com/. All paints and varnishes are Vallejo. One modification I did make was to the (in my opinion) over-sized nose. After looking at different options I eventually stuffed it with milliput and then sanded it down to reduce the base diameter by a small margin. As you can tell... I'm not a photographer! I am pleased with how it has turned out. As with all models there are a few places I think could do with more work - but in reality I think I'm going to call this one done. Maybe time to get back to the FW190 . Thanks for looking.

Greetings all - and all the best for coming year. Airfix 1/24th Hellcat II NF (F6F-5N), KD127, 892 NAS, Drem, Scotland, mid-1945. Here's my first completion of 2024 which nearly made 2023 but the cold, wet weather was against me for the final varnish coat! The Airfix 1/24th Hellcat is well known and documented so I'll save the background information but suffice to say it's one of the most enjoyable builds I've ever done - it's an absolute beauty of a kit and I loved building it. Whist there are some nice marking options in the box, I decided to go off-piste a little and do something different, hence buying the excellent Aerocraft set (reviewed here) to make this into a Royal Navy night-fighter variant: The level of detail is sublime out of the box, and it went together beautifully with virtually no fit issues whatsoever. What I will say though, is tolerances are very tight indeed and the parts benefit from having their mating surfaces sanded slightly to cater for the thickness of the paint. The gun bays, for example, have a lot of the wing structure to add and thus very careful test-fitting was required to get that satisfying 'click' as it all goes together. The engine is a small model in itself - it took a total of three weeks to get it together and painted. Airfix give you a very detailed construction guide and this enables the builder to add the mass of wiring associated with the ignition harness - I used some aftermarket braided wiring and the effort was well worth it. The surface detailing is some of the best I've ever seen and gives a wonderful 3D effect - when you catch the right light it looks so realistic: Considering this was built OOB with the only additions being the seatbelts (I felt the kit examples were a little over-scaled), the ignition wiring and conversion set, it's exceptional value and quite a presence on the modelling desk. Paints were all Xtracolor enamels and I kept weathering effects to virtually none - these were, in reality, high gloss Dark Sea Blue and pretty clean. The stressed skin effect does most of the work for you to be fair, and other than some light exhaust staining I kept this in line with period photos of late-war Royal Navy Hellcats. To anyone considering building this, a few observations of the build process which may come in useful: As mentioned above, tolerances are very tight - gentle sanding of gluing surfaces and test-fits are a must and it will be very easy for things to become misaligned, especially in the gun bays; If you can, build the engine and main airframe as separate parts and bring them together after painting. I installed the engine as a completed unit prior to the main airframe being painted and this resulted in some very complex masking around the exhausts! The main canopy was quite a bit wider/flared at the base than the runners it is supposed to sit on. I had to coat the inside of the canopy with some Future (to avoid 'fogging') and then attach it with CA glue; The wing tip light lenses are slightly too large for the apertures they sit in - in hindsight I should have test-fitted these earlier in the build and not after painting! Be really careful when following the instructions as to whether you are doing wings folded or extended - the build sequence is very different between the two! Anyway, that's enough waffle from me! All the best, Tom

Evening folks, With the summer holidays here, there's been some welcome additional modelling time and this was finished off over the weekend. I was given this by my dad who had in turn been given it by an old family friend - I think it is an original issue, and if not it's a very early issue of this classic kit from Airfix: I just wanted to build this more or less as it comes and enjoy it. However, I couldn't let the gaping hollow wheel bays pass so made some simple mods by adding plastic card sidewalls and some Evergreen stiffeners to at least make them sort of passable: Other than that, I used some Eduard belts for the pilot's seat, Barracuda wheels as the kit's had dried out and cracked when I tried to apply them to the hubs, and some aftermarket decals from Techmod to represent Von Werra's machine who crash-landed not far from me in Marden, Kent - and became 'the one that got away'. Although old and basic by modern standards, this kit is a joy and went together pretty well. Surface detail is sublime and the super-detailer could really have a field day if they were so inclined. I really enjoyed it as nostalgic build from days gone by and that's what it's all about! Evolution: here is the 109E alongside the G-model: like the Spitfire the basic airframe had huge potential to evolve and did so as the war progressed: Paints were all Xtracolor enamels with some weathering using Mig-Ammo pastels. A really enjoyable build - don't overlook these oldies as they scrub up really well! All the best, Tom

Dear fellow modellers, I’m giving it to you straight: I’m building this kit by sheer gluttony because until recently I never had the slightest interest in Spitfires and I always considered 1/24 as the scale for the blurry-eyed and the ham-fisted. Until before last Christmas, I stumbled on a presentation video on YouTube of the new Airfix 1/24 Spitfire. I was so impressed that I asked myself …what if I simply regress and go back to the simpler joys of sticking plastic and dabbling paint without the fussiness of modern modelling? So here we are: a out-of-the-box (well almost ) build of the Airfix überkit. No babble needed, just lurid images for your eyes only. With Eduard PE harness Above: before shading. Below: after shading Questions and comments are welcome. Thank you all for watching, Cheers, Quang

As part of some upcoming large scale, 3D-printed aircraft cockpit upgrade designs, very happy to announce a model of the World War Two-era "Set, Complete Radio 522-A" ("SCR-522-A") used by the US Army Air Corps, Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force. In RAF and RAAF service, this radio set was known as the TR.5043. This model is available in 1/32 and 1/24 scales. Other scales are possible. Often referred to as a "Signal Corps Radio", the SCR-522-A was installed aboard many aircraft types. For example, the SCR-522-A was a conspicuous feature of the P-51D and P-51K Mustang fighters, installed behind the pilot's armored seat back and visible through the bubble canopy. Very soon, we will be releasing a highly detailed, 3D-printed cockpit for the classic Revell 1/32 scale Bristol Beaufighter (see posts below). Click here for the Model Monkey products in 1/24 scale and 1/18 scale Click here for Model Monkey products in 1/32 scale. Click here for the Model Monkey catalog.

Hi, I picked up the new MENG Fokker Dr.I in 1/24th scale. Overall a very nice kit. I cannot comment on the accuracy but so far I didn´t spot a severe inaccuracy. Also fit of parts is very nice. So let´s get started with the cockpit, fuel tank etc. The harness will be finished once the fuselage is closed, painted and weahtered. I finally settled on Richthofen´s 152/17 for the scheme and will use Aviatic fabric decals and airbrush masks from DN Models. Bye for now, Bernd.

https://uk.airfix.com/products/supermarine-spitfire-mkixc-a17001?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=New+Super+Kit&utm_campaign=Airfix-+New+Kit+-+week+41+21%2F22&modal=-zoom Hot off the heels of the Spitfire day being held at Duxford come the announcement of a new 1/24 Spitfire from Airfix: Spitfire Mk IXc. According to the product page, 4 decal options!

Some might remember a scratch project from 2018 that never quite took flight, the Grumman XP-50. I got as far as engines and cowlings and some fuselage but then lost steam. It's an interesting airplane, but I really did not have enough love for it. Gotta be careful with flings! So, fast forward to now: The 3D engines I drafted and had printed in 3D (at some $50-$60) were sitting on a shelf I was organizing the other day and it dawned on me to repurpose them. But how? In 2018 I was touring the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC and as I wandered by the S-2 Tracker on the deck and it sort of captured my heart somehow, especially noting it had Wright R-1820 powering it (and I had just complete a 3D project on that engine). Maybe then I was thinking how I could do that plane? Hard to say, but for the last few weeks the S-2 has been in my mind. I'm thinking it might have been a spark visiting a static display of a PV2 Neptune in Brunswick, ME (where I live). 50's tech and all. It dovetails into the Bearcat as well. I've been going back and forth whether to launch this project here but figure it is officially WIP since it has engines and I'm thinking a lot of how it will be done. The other controversy is I really want to a) Finish the Bearcat and b) Build Dan's Vigilante I bought last month. It's possible I can do it all in parallel production. Let's give it a a go. Here are some images to kick things off. And yes, It's huge! But it also has folding wings so the display issues for a 36" (90cm) wingspan are manageable.

Hi Guys Here is a bumper set of new releases all in one go, available for ordering and shipping right now (well over the next few days) Basically a few stand alone decal sheets, to be used in conjunction with the kit decals, early F6F-5 fuselage windows, and a few F6F-5N conversion sets with decals. Before you all ask, yes I am working on the F6F-3 conversion, this will also be done with a few decal sheet options. Release date for the -3 ???????? next few months. Best to visit here to get all the information. https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/category/1-24th A few pictures for colour (or color for US friends)

HI Guys After finishing my Dragon BF-110 for the multi engine group build i decided to start on this beauty Trumpeter 1/24 BF-109G-6 Maketar paint mask JG 53 yellow 7 Master Barrels MG-131 I started the build with the engine on the side line i prepared and painted the exhaust with Alclad manifold While working on the cockpit i decide i wanted to try making some seat belts Using Champagne bottle foil and some small copper wires i came up with this. i know they are not perfect but i'm quite happy for a first time Next up will be the cockpit and the side walls Thank for looking

Time to move on from my last build, Airfix's 1/24 Me Bf 109 E-4 http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=69743&hl= to the next of my planes from childhood, the Airfix 1/24 Hurricane Mk1. Before I start, confession time. I never actually built this in my formative years. I did the Spit, 109, Ju87 but never the Hurri. I don't know why, perhaps other things got in the way as I would have been a teenager by then. So, this is a learn as I go along thing (nothing new there then ) I picked the kit up on eBay and it a good old example contemporary with my formative years. The box art on these kits still impresses me and the little book as opposed to a sheet of instructions all added to making it feel a bit better than a normal run of the mill kit As any of you who were kind enough to look at my log for my previous build, you'll realise that David Bailey I ain't but I've looked at some of the excellent posts and articles on LSP and hopefully I've improved a bit on the pictures here. Let me know As ever for me I've started with the engine. My old photo skills are (non) evident in these early shots but they just show the first couple of stages after gluing the mighty Merlin together I'm still unashamedly an enamels man so I started with a black base coat of Humbrol mixed with a little gunmetal to try and give a metallic effect These two are thankfully the last with my old camera and the auto setting. Next came the coat of satin varnish and a dry brush with Humbrols 27001 aluminium to give a little wear then an oil wash of burnt umber with a little lamp black added to try and simulate some oily grime in the nooks and crevices. I used some reference pics of various Merlins but you have to be really careful, I've realised to get the right ones or you end up putting all manner of bits and bobs on to enhance the look that really shouldn't be there. So a couple of the reference pics have various bits not evident on the Airfix engine, although I think it's a lovely but of plastic, so much better than the one on the Spitfire but there were quite a few years between those models. I added some extra wiring and cut off the spark plug connectors on the ignition harness as they looked awful. I used the 0.8mm resin connectors from Hobby Design painted silver, drilled into the engine body with my trusty microdrills and then hooked the lot up with 0.3 mm lead wire painted a suitable colour. Fiddly but I think it looks OK Looking at these pics I can see I need to redo the coiled pipe into the supercharger. It's thin brass wire wound around a core of thicker wire but I then slid it off the core and as I've bent it into shape is parted. The core needs to go back in to give it strength, I think. Very uncertain as to how much to do to the top section. I'm no Merlin expert but there are images with extra ignition wires etc going into the top but then others with nothing. I'm presuming they're different models of engine. I don't want to **** it up by adding stuff that shouldn't be there so any advice would be most welcome Hope the pics look better than my previous efforts. I'll post updated when I've fixed the coiled pipe and hopefully got some feedback on how far to go with the top section. Thanks for taking the trouble to have a look.

So here's the finished article, up for scrutiny. Gulp!! Link to the build is here for anyone interested. Thanks for taking the time to have a look, any comments, criticism etc. is always welcome

This has been a nice fun cheap build. It is built straight from the box. The only things i added were basic belts cur from a brown envelope , Airscale instruments that i had laying around and a partial Aveaology sheet. I say partially as i was too heavy handed with them and ruined them. The only ones ledt were the "ZWEI" under the cockpit and the serials. The roundels are from the kit and the codes i masked and airbrushed on. Weathering has been kept to a bare minimum with only exhaust and gun stains airbrushed on. Took just over a week and the actual kit was only 25 quid , so its been a great build. So much less stress than adding extra detail. Mosquito and Spitfire next for the 1/24 collection!

Ladies and Gentlemen..................................................................................... the wait is OVER!!!! Fresh off the Airfix e-mail:- Coming in 2016, 1/24th Hawker 'Car Door' Typhoon, let the celebrations commence or not Paul

Ok, Ok, Ok, I caved.... Granted with all my other irons in the fire this may take a while, so I am grateful for the Dec 31 end date. ...It may take every bit of it. The box: The goodies inside: The conceptual drawing: I actually did a thumbnail sketch probably 2 years ago, then did the above colored rendering. I will be making the majority of this up as I go along, but at this point here is the basic concept and list of mods. Reno styled Unlimited Racer, based on the Spitfire. Rolls Royce Griffon engine with modified Shackleton Contra-rotating propellers Boil off system for engine cooling and oil cooling. Cockpit moved aft and modified bubble canopy and windscreen. Filled and smoothed wings and fuselage. Modified landing gear. I have been dying to build this, and this is the perfect excuse to do it.

Anyone else seen this offer from Airfix? http://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/veday-bundles/airfix-bundle-1.html If you're in the UK, you get free shipping too! Carl

Well, guess what was sitting on my porch today.... Yup, this lil' gem of a kit that I purchased from a gent who was doing an estate sale on our traders board. The price was more than right, and I just love this kit after finally seeing it. Of course, I am sure it has its dimension and shape issues, but I dont care...."I love it, I love it, I love it!!" (as I do a Molly Shannon high kick in my chair!!!) In my hands is a kit with the closest to the real thing engine cowling.....YAY The rivit detail is similar to the 1/32 Tomy offering, and just a shame to cover up. And the fabric surfaces are great. Oh and all of the masking tape was courtesy of its previous owner, who knows how long ago he gazed upon the same mockup....judging by the tape...its been a while. Here is one of the sprues, it has a fabulous intake duct, engine cradle, and the split rims should look great when assembled. Oh and no ugly back wall of the wheel wells, it has a real main spar. And with a bit of cardstock similar to my Airfix build and I think the wheel wells will look pretty decent. We will see.... I and the instruction booklet (which will either teach me to build from pictures or learn Japanese) has some fantastic color illustrations!! Now..... I have no idea what to do with this kit.... My next build was to be the Reno Racer the Bardahl Special, but that plane was probably fairly slicked up and as I stated, I just dont want to cover up the skin detail on this model. So my thinking as of now is some research on F-51Ds and figure out what condition the wings, fuselage and cockpits were after a depot rebuild either for the Korean Conflict or for Air National Guard service. (Although the fabric elevators are probably a no-no for that time frame). It also has moulded in rocket mounts that I hope to keep and uses. Any advice or info on that would be a huge contribution and greatly appreciated. Never enough 'Stangs!!!!! Stay tuned...

Well, this came as a complete surprise to me. I had been completely content with the Airfix 1/24 P-51D kit, and really happy to have scored the reissue P-51D/K boxing with all the extra bits and pieces, and much better plastic. BUT.............. I just had the amazing fortune of aquiring the Hobby Craft 1/24 P-51D, and all I can say so far is......WOW!!!! This kit is just amazing, and is probably worth the c-note plus, that they are listing them for, and so what makes this even better is that I paid just over a third of that for this jewel. So with this aquisition I am moving the paint scheme and nose art from my Airfix build over to this kit......for 5 very good reasons....... S.W.M.B.O. My original build was for her (as the plane sports her name, although shes not a blonde), I thought it was great that I found real nose art from WWII that was so appropriate. And now I believe a better kit for her. So I intend on building this kit represent "Jan" QP-D, the initial mount of Lt. Robert Dickmeyer of the 334th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, stationed at Debden, UK. His tour with the 334th was from 6JUN44 through 26DEC44. During that period he had two Mustangs assigned to him, 44-13956 and later 44-14606, P-51D-5NA and P-51D-10NA respectively. He scored 2.5 kills (1 ME109 and 1.5 FW109) and I read that 413956 was downed by flack near France, and he dead sticked the Mustang into a 9th AF landing strip, but I have not been able to pin point the date. These Mustangs also were adorned with nose art by the 334th's famous artist Sgt. Donald Allen.I hope to do a decent natural metal look on her fuselage, and aluminum paint finish on the wings. I havent done any of that before, so its going to be trial and error, I am afraid, but I am looking forward to the challenge. Obviously at this scale, there isnt a bunch available, and certainly not for "Jan", so I will be printing up my own for this build. Here is a photo of "Jan" Here is the kit, and a quick photo of its contents, still in their packaging. As I unwrap the sprues and wipe the drool off my desk I will post up more pics of the plethora of parts included. I have been reading up on some of the kits shortcomings, and some I will live with and some I will do my best to rework. Anyway, thanks for looking in and putting up with my indicisiveness.....at least you dont live with me