Search the Community

We take a look at Special Hobby's recently released Tempest Mk.V "HI-TECH 2" kit, with it's top half rendition of the distinctive Napier Sabre engine. A great package, and excellent value in my opinion... Iain

Hello All, according to Special Hobby's CEO, they have started to consider Ar-96... Source is http://ipmsnymburk.com/forum/viewtema.php?ID_tema=12168, use google translate, comment #8410.

Hello, Special hobby is announcing this: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/03/sh32065-fokker-dii-132-pripravujeme.html Kit is about to produced in similar technology as Bristol M.1.

First frames finished: http://www.specialhobby.net/2016/07/sh32067-yakovlev-yak-3-132-prvni-vylisek.html Looks very tempting...

Ok ... So LSP_Paul is doing the HpH Helldiver review ... but who's doing the Tempest ... and whoever you are, can you do a comparison with the PCM kit? Rog

I am not sure, if this was already published here: Special Hobby is preparing their Yak-3 for the second half of 2016 http://www.mpmkits.net/2016/02/jak-3-132-pripravujeme-na-druhou.html

Hi ! My last finished build. Like most of my last models, it has been started for a while, but was put aside to build something else. So it's the Special Hobby P-36A Pearl Harbor defender kit, built OOB. I just corrected the gunsight, buidling from scratch a new correct gunsight + reflector, thanks to Waroff's informations. Same for the windscreen rods. The painting was done with Alclad gloss black base thouroughly polished and then some AK interactive mixes, mostly based on polished aluminium. The decal set is from Yellow Wings, very nice set, but the decal quality (Microscale) was really not impressive. Nothing comparable with Microscale Cartograf (sorry for the typo !), Fantasy Print Shop or the Special Hobby printer (dont know who it is, but they are always very good !). The colors on the engine cowling were painted as i was sure try to apply the decals here would have ended as a drama. It's the Group commanders aircraft, so it wears the colors of the 3 pursuit squadrons of 20th PG. Nothing special to say about this build. It's not very easy as there are a lot of fit issues, especially as the fuselage is designed for 2 different engines, with different front parts, and it's a bit tricky to make all of this fitting correctly. But nothing impossible with a bit of CA, putty and sanding paper. Here is a link to the WIP thread, if interested : http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=57403?st=0

Evening ladies and gents! I fancied me a flame thrower and after adding everything including the kitchen sink it felt like to my last WIP, I figured I would go with something not really seen much before, and something I could go completely OOB on. This will be my OOB (except maybe for a set of low viz masks) attempt at the Special Hobby 1/32nd T-2C Buckeye, in the low viz camo of the NAS Oceana Aggressors. Here is the scheme Ill be going for: The Kit: This is a new tool kit from SH and a first for the T-2 in 32nd. I have not seen in person the 48th scale version of theirs so I cant speak to that, but I can show you what you get in the 1/32nd box. Nice sturdy SH box, with some great box art for the "Camouflage Trainer" version: The box came well backed w/air filled pockets protecting the whole of the single major bag all of the sprues came in: Instructions seem pretty clear, and precise, with good illustrations: Decals seem very nice, and are clear, and in good register throughout. I didnt take them out of the package, so Ill find out more about the quality of these later in the build: SH gives you some very nicely (if not a tad clunky) molded Bang seats that although not perfect should look really cool on an OOB build with very little effort: The intakes might be a bug-a-boo, as each contains 5 separate parts: SOME MORE..........................

Hi, This is the last build i've finished. It is the Special Hobby A5M2b, built OOB, with one of the 2 schemes from the box as well. It is a pretty good kit, with nice details, but not always easy to deal with. Indeed, there is a few traps and the instructions are not always clear. But with a bit of work you can get something nice. I've add a bit of details (especially wires) in the cockpit, and had to redo all the iternal structure with styrene strips because the parts from the kit were unusable with the resin parts (it did not fit at all). The dials on the instruments panel are from MDC. I've drill the back bulkhead to make it hollow, and drill some areas in the floor as well. For the engine, i've used the kit sparking wire, supplied as a PE part, but it look good. I've laid a few coats of Mr Surfacer with a brush on the wires to make them looking more tri-dimensional. I've replaced the pushrods with 0.45mm nickel silver rods from Albion Alloy, which have been blackened with the Uschi burnishing solution (and it works, even if it is not brass). The cowling struts are made with 0.33 nickel silver rods, and i had to flatten one end in order to glue them on a tiny bracket glued on the engine crankcase. It is very fragile, but no choice. As an early A5M based in China, i wanted to get this kind of golden color, and my own interpretation of it is that it is actually a tinted varnish (or a clear varnish that became yellow when weathered), certainly the same kind than the Ame-iro seen on the A6M's. The best way to get the same aspect was to get the same way. So i've started with a coat of alclad, and then a coat of custom made tinted varnish. The recipe is approximatively 70-80% satin clear, 5-7% clear yellow, 5-7% clear orange and 10-15% smoke, and you should get something that is clear brownish. Just before spraying the varnish, i've used some AK chipping product, to make a few scratches and chips on the wing roots and cockpit sides. Then i've used custom made masks for the Hinomaru, and painted the tail with the same red (a mix of gunze flat red, vine red and a bit of insigna red). And then it was the drama.... Some paint (varnish + alcad) came off with the masks..... Usually, this kind of issue is not a big deal to repair, only a few touch-ups and everything is ok. But in this case, i have this varnish and it is impossible to make an invisible touch up, as the varnish is clear and any touch up would build it up and make it stronger and stronger around the peeled off area. So after a few days of thinking, i decided to mask all around the damaged area, to sand it clean and to repaint those area from scratch. The repair is not invisible, but i can live with it ! The decals from the kit are very good, and especially thin. That can even become a problem as they have a tendency to fold on themselves, and they become very sticky on the surface pretty fast, and then it is very difficult to make them move. I think micro set on the model before placing the decals must be avoided, but micro sol on placed decals is ok, and the decals react well. Then the weathering was done with a wash of Flory model dark dirt to highlight the panel lines, and then some enamel AK washes, followed by a coat of satin varnish. The exhausts have been painted with shades of rust colors with a coat of AK chipping product to make a kind of rust crust. The WIP thread : http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=52933 Here are a few pictures in natural light :