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So thanks to Tolga and William first of all for piquing my interest in Hellcats after my wife stumbled on one at a a local market, where you can normally buy food, clothes, and whatnot, except model kits. Well, this seller was an exception apparently and for a very modest price (my wife is a great negotiator!) she took it home. Although the kit is a limited edition with 3 Minsi's, it's the same plastic that's probably older than I am. I was intrigued about kitbashing it with a Trumpeter Garfield Hellcat, and so happend to stumble on one at a second hand site here. edit: Williams excellent build is here: And for future reference, as at this moment it's on the same page, but it may not always remain so, here's Tolga's: If there's any other cool Hellcat related thread here, I can always add them of course. So, with a gazillion half-baked projects on the shelf, here I am starting another that will probably end up being half baked as well after I get the main kitbash done, but we'll see about that later. If it helps a bit for other to try it as well... why not? So with both Hellcatkits (speak that aloud a few times!) in hand, i removed the Hasegawa fuselage & Trumpeter lower/upper wing parts from their sprues and started thinking about the easiest way. The Trumpeter kit has wings that mate to the fuselage directly, following it's (bloated) shape, while the Hasegawa as moulded fillets to which the upper wings are glued. The bloated Trumpeter is actually about the size of the fillets wider, so I figured why not cut the Trumpeter upper wing parts straight & be done with it? That seemed, at first, like a workable idea; taped the shape up & if I were to cut along the tape it might work, as evidenced by sliding the part underneath the fillet. Of course things are never that easy, and I was glad (or not!) I tried to fit the lower part as well, before hacking up parts. Remember measure twice, cut once? I discovered 2 insteresting things: the Trumpeter lower wing part, despite the bloated fuselage, is an almost dead-on fit both in curves & length. However, somewhat to my dismay, the at the rear, the Trumpeter wing sits much lower than on the Hasegawa as seen here: Figured there were roughly 2 options (actually 3, leave both models alone & abandon the attempt...) : 1. cut the Hasegawa fillets off (as Willam did on his build as far as I could see), and build up the gap with Evergreen, adapt the upper wing to the Hasegawa fuselage 2. cut the lower wing about 75% off the Trumpeter part, and bend upward to match the Hasegawa fillet. i'm not sure which kit is correct, but looking at the curves & bends of option 2 I went with 1. Of course there'll be someone pointing out the wing will sit too low now... but when I started it my mindset was to make the best of 2 not-so-great kits and live with some shortcuts or inaccuracies. There, I said it So, option 1 it was; I used a Tamiya scriber to carefully get rid of the fillets, some cutting and sawing, until they were off: and, the moment of truth.... as expected, gaps, but I think I these can be closed with Evergreen, and as the Hellcat fuselage had some sort of ridge/fillet where the wings sits, I that may help too. This also needs some adressing with Evergreen: Of course I don't have the required thicknesses of Evergreen, so I'll need a visit to the local shop first before I can attempt to close those gaps up. I've got some other models in the works too, so I might even pause this one until one of those is finished before picking it up again, but hopefully it might help others out with some practical tips & guides. If anyone has some additional tips or info it's welcome as well, after all, I'm just meddling along Another hurdle is that the Trumpeter decals are very inaccurate, but my Hasegawa box has The Minsi, Minsi II and III -historically very significant aircraft, but with wings folded I want something with more markings on the wings, nose and tail -on the Hellcat the fuselage is pretty much invisible. (hence the ? in the title, not sure if I'll do an F6F-3 or F6F-5 yet).

Hello, everyone! Long time, no post. After completing the "panzer of the river" dio back in February, I've started a few things but struggled to get anything across the finish line. Happy (very) to report that this one is done. It fought me most of the way, but by the time I'd gotten really frustrated with it, I was too far along to pitch it. That said, I'm more or less happy with the result. The decals have me fits and you'll see quite a bit of silvering which is just super frustrating. I opted for decals as I wasn't confident that I would be able to get masks to lay down in the wing corrugations. Turns out the decals didn't feel like doing it either. Oh well. I was really geeked about the Devastator kit when it came out, but in my opinion, Trumpeter managed to put out an aggressively mediocre kit. In that regard, I guess Trumpeter managed to capture not only the form of the real airplane, but it's whole vibe too. So, kudos to them on that front, I guess. (?) Anyway, the fit was okay in general, but I had it in my head to really detail up the interior, only to find that it's really really spartan. The whole bomb aimer's area is just pure fantasy and doesn't line up with any of the reference photos in @Dana Bell's recent book. So, it made it a real challenge to want to try to do any extra detail work on the interior. I suppose in the end absolutely none of it would be seen anyway, especially with the wings folded, but I would have known. That said, I did use @airscale's PE and 3D printed products to add detail where I could. I can't recommend these highly enough and they're almost a requirement in my opinion. Off the top of my head, I used the interior set, the prop, wheels, gunsight, wing fold, and twin .30 mount. All fit pretty well without having to do much fiddling with adjacent parts and the added detail was/is lovely. Thanks @airscale! I ordered the ASK stencil set as the kit-provided stencils are ridiculous. However, I would also suggest that the ASK set is only slightly less ridiculous as they are rife with spelling errors and their instructions seemingly have you placing them randomly around the airplane. Weird. I used the Gold Medal decals for the aircraft markings and, fortunately, they came with stencils and much more plausible placement instructions. Any issues with them laying down on the model are mine, not theirs. Highly recommend the Gold Medal set. Also, if you don't have Dana's recent TBD reference book, just buy it. It's a fascinating walk through a really weird, esoteric, and utterly mid aircraft. I digress. This is my rendition of T-14, George Gay's aircraft from VT-8 on the day he became the sole survivor of his group's attack on the Japanese carrier fleet at Midway. If anyone's not familiar with it, here's a short primer on the whole thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT-8 Enjoy!

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.

I'll be jumping back into large scale with the Trumpeter F-7 kit. I picked it up very cheap at a swap and sell as it was lacking decals and instructions, although I have sourced some instructions and decals should be easy to come by. Pictures to follow soon. She will be carrying a pair of AA-2 Atoll missiles, which were a direct copy of the Aim-9B Sidewinder.

Anyone bought a Trumpeter 1:32 MiG-23MLD Flogger (or MF or ML boxing) recently? If so, does the recently re-popped edition still include the metal landing gear or inserts parts Z1-Z9 inclusive? I've got a hankering to build a Bulgarian jet but will avoid it without, especially, the metal LG inserts Z5-Z9. I've heard of recent Bobbyhouse and Trumpy kits bypassing essential metal of yore. Thanks Tony

I think this was one of the most wanted kits when it finally came out and I can see why people were disappointed with it. Aside from the accuracy issues we all know, I'll mention a couple that don't get discussed usually; to make 'K' correctly, you will need to add a reflector gun slight to the cockpit and the word 'nan' which was written under the cockpit in white on the port side. Fit of the windscreen, upper cowlings and prop are troublesome along with the decals which are fine for nice flat surfaces, but are a pain to put over raise surface detail or curves. The fuselage decals were even fused to the paper, requiring some replacement roundels from a Tamiya Spitfire. I also found the exhaust stacks in the kit unusable, thus these were replaced with leftover P-39 parts (you can't really tell the difference). 'K' was often flown by P/O Jack Bartle while he was with 112 Squadron RAF in Egypt in mid to late 1941. Bartle would go on to become Squadron Leader of No 1 Air Ambulance Unit and 450 Squadron RAAF during his 2 operational and 2 non-operational tours of duty. He survived the war with 6.5 victories. 'K' was not so lucky, being posted missing in action while being flown by her other regular pilot, P/O RJD Jeffries in December 12th 1941.

So here is the WIP, the weathering is ready, and it is finally ready: A ''walkaround'' in in-flight mode, first:

Hi guys! I really like these bright sandy Luftwaffe schemes from Africa/Tunis/Italy instead of those sad greyish colors from most of Europe. Trumpeter kit seems straightforward but I had problems with closing lower part of engine cover, raised the wings (nearly flat in kit...). You MUST correct kit ugly spinner and too short rudder (and if you are Meser maniac all control surfaces...) I replaced them with Revell\Eduard leftovers. I placed German pilot from ICM Axis pilots box with figourines in cockpit, added cables to engine. If you want to have 109 fast i recommend Hasegawa - most of their kits are totally plaything or if you like details ZM (but i saw that this isn't a piece of cake to put together...). Hope you like it!

I'm back, and hopefully not with another kit that ends up on the shelf of doom. This is a bird that I've been interested in for a very long time, having read Termite Hill and Lucky's Bridge by Tom Wilson years ago, both of which focused on the Thud. I've also recently read Hunter Killers by Dan Hampton about the creation of the Wild Weasels, all of which I recommend for some background info on the F-105 and it's uses. So, after nothing was fitting on the T-28C/D Trojan I'd been working on, and the lack of interest in the plane as well, it's ended up boxed at this point, sitting on the shelf for (hopefully) another rematch someday. Now I've got the F-105G, and a bit of aftermarket, to make some winter time building. Now, the first thing.....this thing is HUGE compared to the other 1/32 kits I've built. It'll dwarf my Corsair and Dauntless, whenever it ends up in the display cabinet. I've picked up a few bits of aftermarket, with the Quintas Studio's cockpit the one I'm most interested in trying. I'm going to see what I can do to combine this with the Aires cockpit, Eduard PE and the kit parts. We'll see how well that works! I also have GT Resin's update set for the Wild Weasel, with a new nose, vertical stabilizer, engine, etc. New resin wheels/tires and also a nice turned metal nose probe to top things off. I'll also probably be needing to find some metal landing gear, as all of this is going to get heavy, plus adding additional weight to the nose to keep this from turning into a tail sitter. Special thanks to @Dragon for sending me some decals a while back that will get used in this build! And....finally, I also picked up something for later, Randy Coopers Blade Runner 2049 Spinner. This will be a challenge, as I've never tackled a full resin kit!

My Trumpeter Tomcat's main canopy hood has some ridges on it which I'm uncertain should be there. Luc Janssen kept them on his excellent build — https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3668 If they shouldn't be there we need a replacement canopy. My own VF-31 F-14D is in a plastic crate to start (box thrown out) so answers would be appreciated. Sorry I can't post pics. I don't have an image host these days. cheers Tony

Hi guys n gals, Can anyone of you help me what purpose cylinders C7 in the Trumpeter SBD kits had? https://flic.kr/p/2nD7kg8 It can be found in the SBD-2 in the Museum of Naval Aviation. https://flic.kr/p/2nD12NT The empty brackets are visible in photos of the original manual on both sides of the pilots’ seat backrest. These last three photos are from The Cybermodeler site with details on the SBD. Thanks for your insights!

Hello all, Happy New year and thank lordy 2021 has right done one...Lets hope 2022 is a lot, lot better for us all. This was started in 2021 so i cant really claim this to be a 2022 build, but one that rolled over into 2022. The Trumpeter P-47D kits seem to be a little hit and miss as i've built a few and this one was a real tricky customer which need a fair amount of filler, sanding and re-scribing (replacing panels that was destroyed in the sanding exercise) to look half decent. I'm working on a few more weathering processes to make my aircraft look more realistic, so if there are any comments on the weathering that may need improvement please leave a comment as all comment are welcome. This aircraft is: P-47D-30-RE Sno 44-20344 #54 ‘Norma/Little Bunny/Helen and flown by Lt. William "Willy" Lyke and shared with Lt. Brad Muhl. The Aircraft is finished in RAF Green upper surfaces and Medium Sea Grey lower surfaces. The aircraft has the Leading edge of the nose cowl finished in red while the tail and wings have yellow identification stripes. the aircraft was an ex-Brazilian aircraft that was turned over to the 57th FG who painted over some of the markings resulting in a patchwork Olive Drab/RAF green finish. The name Norma was added by Lt. Brad Muhl and this was to impress his girlfriend who was a nurse in Pisa, Italy. Paint: I tend to stick with Gunze as much as i can and went for 303 for the cockpit interior. 27 for the wheel bays, the main paints were 13 (medium grey) and 23 (RAF Drab) with 38 (US tank Drab) for the camo scheme. Aftermarket: Only added Master 32004 1/32 Gun Barrels, Brassin Wheels and Eagle Cal's EC#104 set. As ever Eagle Cal do a great job on their decals but i wish they included the prop markings in this set. Seat belt are scratch built with tape and spare buckles. As i said, please comment on the weathering is there is anywhere i can improve on this. Keep safe folks.

Hello folks and a Happy New Year to you all. I have been busy trying to make the Trumpeter F4-F4 into an FM-2 this also required swapping the cowling from the late F4-F3 kit giving a better starting point for correction of the cowling. The FM-2 was fitted with a single row 9 cylinder engine made by Wright instead of the 2 row 7 cylinder engines on the other Wildcats. This would be the make or break part of the conversion so it made sense to start here 1st, if this worked it would be time to buy a new resin engine from Vector resin. It did work out nicely so the engine was ordered Work commenced with marking the cowling with several rings which would make cut lines for removal of the front of the cowling once separated each half was sanded back a bit and then glued back together. This process was repeated 4 times to get the desired shortening of nose. Then given a nice coat of VMS Black super glue which could then be sanded back to give the right shape.

Hey all, I'm back with another...ambitious project: Trumpeter's big Super Tomcat. SprueBrothers was lucky to get a new shipment in, and itching for a new project after finishing the Bug, I immediately jumped on it! After waiting a week from ordering, I was greeted by an email on the 30th of July saying I had a parcel waiting to be picked up at my APO box. Lo and behold (as if I didn't already know what it was) the Kitty has hit the deck. Upon opening the box, I was greeted by a very neatly arranged pile of styrene. For those who don't know, she's going to be a BIG 'Cat, as shown here by a reference photo compared to my F/A-18C Anyway, it's good to be back at the bench, and as always, thanks for stopping by the hangar!

Hello Gents, going to build this razorback for a german friend who owns some remains of this bird, This was a P47D-20 Razorback 4276428 (6M+H) from the 48th FBG 9TH Air Force flown by 2nd Lt. Glen V. Fleischer, on 23.03.1945 while attacking some strategic targets in the City of Bonn, they flew in the area and attacked German ground forces some 30km east of the Remagen Bridge When he dropped his fuel tank, gas was running out of the main tank and the plane went on fire, the pilot managed to bail out and became a POW, luckily he was free by Allies forces days later, my friend managed to contact the pilot in the 90's and after the pilot passed away at 93 years old his son in law sent him some photos, medals and even a piece of the chute he used to bailed out, now to complete the display I will build a 1/32 Trumpeter Razorback for him with the right markings, only a front view picture is known of this aircraft, I modified this profile to what would the markings have looked like. some fragments of the cowling checkers with OD paint

my last built , enjoy :

OK - want an excuse to build this - I have a hellcat (trump) and 2xTamy corsairs (all already on show here), but this is stinking up my stash... I want to build it 'in flight' mode using the 'blur blades' and using the Tamiya pilot and stand. That way I don't need to worry too much about the cockpit, and tires... ;-) Also experimenting for the first time with paining masks from Montex - this is my first GB or Build on LSP - so be kind ;-)

I had hoped to record building the Flightpath Houchin GPU unit as well as the Harrier, but it was by far the hardest thing I've tried to assemble, and I never really knew when I'd finished each stage as I had to keep re-doing everything. Oh well. Displayed on 2x Coastal kits vinyl bases. Only extras used on the Harrier were some Airscale decals for cockpit gauges and Flying Leathernecks det cord. I’m aware the loadout is inaccurate for an RAF Harrier, particularly Snakeyes with laser Mavs. I’ve never seen an RAF Harrier without fuel tanks but it’s my favourite mount in DCS (those who know, know ;-) so I’ve done a fictitious what-if. I also think the GPU is probably too old a model but was the only type I could find so I’ve gone to town on the ageing, as opposed to the jet which I tried to be subtle on as they all looked quite clean in real life? Lost the 2(?) supplied rear view mirrors at some point probably when fighting the det cord. Thanks for looking.

Hi all After lurking in the shadows, I've eventually got my act together and am starting a post regarding my first build here on LSP . I've built quite a few kits, but this one is going to be my first in the public domain.....I know that there is an "In the Navy" GB going on, but I'm not sure I'll make the deadline for that GB, so didn't post this there. It's going to be a kitbash of the Hasegawa and Trumpeter Hellcats - if it goes that far - but my plan is to use the Hasegawa fuselage mated to the Trumpeter wings, as both kits IMO have their good and bad points. I've got a fair bit of AM to throw at it, and I know there will be some scratch-building required as well.... My overall problem with the Trumpeter kit is the fuselage - it looks way too blown and rounded, it should be more slab-sided, and the Hasegawa fuselage is way better (not perfect) in that respect! I do however like the Trumpy wings more than the Hasegawa offering (sans the Trumpeter mad riveter offering which will have to be addressed), hence foray into a kitbash. If it will turn out that way we'll have to see, I might end up doing a full Hasegawa if it's going to cause to many issues. But I do enjoy a challenge.....(ask my Revell Ju88C-6...it lived - many times it came close to doing a first and final flight into a wall) Here's pictures of the Trumpeter vs Hasegawa fuselages and cowls - you can see how bloated the Trump kit is... Trumpeter left, Hasegawa right. Hasegawa is not perfect, but it's a lot better!! Hasegawa Left, Trumpeter right. The Hasegawa cowl is WAY better than the Trumpeter. Might have to work on the chin and grin a bit, but I'll have a look once I've checked it against my cross-sections and references. So here we go. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures as I go along If anyone has sage advice, please chip in!! Iain

This is the day I've been looking forward to since the day I started on this project in March, 2019. Our full rivet replacement kits for the SBD are finally bagged and ready to ship to LSP members exclusively at a $25 savings. The retail on this is $195.95 but your price is $170 plus shipping. The link to buy is HERE. You can see a full SBD-5 build using this kit HERE. Photo © Brett Matthews

Afternoon/evening everyone! Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the New Year. Here is my finished build of Trumpeter's 1/32 SBD-5 Dauntless. I've modeled this after the planes the RZNAF used in World War 2 for a 3 months by 25 Squadron before being returned the US, and switching to F4U Corsairs (thanks Alan!). After starting the 1/32nd world with Tamiya's Corsair, this was a bit of a change! Thankfully, even if it's not super crisp like Tamiya, it still built up quite nicely. Aftermarket includes the following: Archer Fine Transfers complete resin raised rivet set Archer Fine Transfers SBD stencils Synthetic Ordinance Works landing gear Master Casters SBD weighted wheels/tires Montex Masks Master .30 caliber barrels Ventura Publication decals Airscale placards Eduard canopy masks MRP, Tamiya and Alclad paints I think that's all...... A huge thank you to Woody @Archer Fine Transfers for letting me test out his rivet skins, they worked perfectly! For those of you considering them in the future, I HIGHLY recommend them to replace the recessed rivets on this kit. Everyone that provided information on the Dauntless and the RZNAF during the build, a big thanks to you too. Build thread is below. Feel free to critique, offer suggestions, point out anything I may have done wrong. It's just learning to me! Thanks for looking! Click on any picture to view it at Flickr and full resolution

First of all I'd like to point out that I've been a long-time lurker that has gotten a lot of information on large scale aircraft here and figured it might be time to send something back. I'm actually a mostly 1/72 modeller, but after finishing a beautiful WnW Fokker D.VII as my first 1/32 kit in ages, I kind of picked up the bug again. My last 1/32 somewhat modern aircraft was a Revell F-14A in VF-1 markings that I put on the television back then -until my mom dusted it off and it fell off, despite the rubber grippy tires! As it would fit nowhere near on a modern TV I guess that tells something about how long ago that was... (I'm 42 now and live in the Netherlands). Some may know me from the Dutch Modelbrouwers or WW1 Aircraft forum there I go by the same name. The Intruder has always been a favourite with 1/72 builds of Italeri, Hasegawa and Fujimi kits, but I'd never gotten one as it was too big and expensive... however, when I discovered AoA decals I got a set for VA-65, and somehow managed a nice deal on an A-6A, mostly still factory sealed. It's this set: My kids want me to do the camouflaged version, but bought it for NL-413 or AA-511, though as you can see later I finished the MERs already and it'll have to be NL-401 or NL-413 now. I can decide later on, but it does feel like a bit of a waste of decals to only use so few on top... I started our with ordnance, as one of the things I dislike about modern aircraft is just that. The kit only comes with 12 simplefied Mk82 Snakeeyes and 2 MERs, but a fellow modeller who would replace them with aftermarket gave me another MER and 6 Mk82s. I'll be loading the A-6 up with 2 MERs outboard, and 1 on the centerline, leaving the inner pylons empty as I saw on a photo of this cruise. As I can't justify the additional costs of 18 Mk82s and 3 MERs in aftermarket I set about to improve what came with the kit. These Snakeeyes fit poorly and required a lot of work to get them to look acceptable. I poked the hinges (which should extend much more to the rear and be much taller as well) with a drill bit and needle, and used a JLC saw and a scriber to open up the fins. The rear part was modified with some punched card disks. Accurate? Not quite, but IMHO a lot better as what came with the kit. I'll be using pins to attach all of it to the model once done so if my lottery ticket proves a winning one I can always replace them. I used black basing and mottled purple red, yellow and some green, deliberately painting some parts more than others. This was then overcoated with olive drab and the noses painted yellow. All of this was Revell Aqua Acrylics, except the glosscoat, which is my trusty Tamiya X-22. The decals are from the kit and worked well, but don't have any letterin on them, they're just yellow squares and rectangles... better than nothing I guess. The fuses are Revell Aqua "Eisen" (#91) with an oil wash and satin varnish. The MERs needed a lot of filling and sanding, and had the extra wires for the top positions added, for some reason Trumpeter supplies only the lower ones. These were also painted black, mottled with medium grey and pure white, then painted with my Insignia White mix (95% Revell Aqua 04 gloss pure white with 5% Revell Aqua 43 medium grey mixed in) I wish I replaced the lower wires as well, they do look a bit different now. The VA-65 decals are from the AoA sheet and worked well, final finish was another glosscoat, some washes with oil paints and a satin coat finished them. In case you're wondering why one of the decals is angled, I saw that on a photo and figured it would be a nice little detail. I'm now working on a few more mods to the wings and fuselage, so more to follow! Jeroen

Hello, everyone. This is my completed vignette that I’m calling, “The Avengers of Guadalcanal.” During the long, grueling campaign for the Solomon Islands, Allied and Japanese forces threw themselves at each other for months. Pitched night naval battles, furious aerial melees, and bitter ground combat were the brutal hallmarks of what I feel was truly the turning point in the Pacific War. By November 1942, American forces were desperately holding on to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in an effort to keep the Cactus Air Force flying. One of the many units fed into the grinder was Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 131 (VMSB-131) whose men, along with countless others, flew and fought to the point of exhaustion. In their new TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers, they attacked Japanese supply vessels and warships (the vaunted “Tokyo Express”) and helped turn the tide of the Guadalcanal campaign in the Allies’ favor. This vignette is a small tribute to all those who fought and paid the price for freedom in those dark days of 1942. It is my first real attempt at a diorama in any scale or subject and I learned a lot valuable lessons for the next time. I also worked to push the limits of my skills, adding a few things that I’d never done before. The Materials This is Trumpeter’s TBF-1C kit (02233) that I backdated to represent a very early TBF-1. While the changes are subtle, they are numerous. To accomplish this, I had to · Cut the trough in the cowl and cowl flap to accommodate the forward-firing .30cal machine gun · Fill the holes for the .50s in the leading edges of both wings · Fill the access panels in the wings for the .50s · Fill the ammo panels in the wings for the .50s. · Scratch build a radio antenna mast that was raked aft at an angle · Remove the pads for the rocket rails on the underwings · Fill the holes for the rocket rails on the underwings · Scratchbuild many (now invisible) interior parts that were only found on TBF-1s I used the Eduard interior detail kit and a set of resin wheels that came with the kit when I bought it from a fellow LSP forum member years ago. Sadly, as this kit had been passed around a few times, many of the parts had been broken in shipping, so I had to spend some time repairing them or scratch building replacements. The base is polystyrene board framed with stained pine strips. The text plate is from PlaqueMakers.com. The Figures The figures are from several sources. · The two standing figures are from Black Dog Resin. They’re a little large and come out to about 6’5” in 1/32 scale. · The kneeling crewman inspecting the tail gear assembly is a 3D printed figure from Reedoak (highly recommended). · The ground crewman in the cockpit is the Aires tow truck driver. He had some fairly major surgery to fit the Avenger’s cockpit. His clipboard and checklist are scratch built of plastic stock and spare PE. The Finish Paints are a mix of MRP, Tamiya, and Vallejo with most weathering done by oils, Mig washes, and pastels. Chipping was kept to a bare minimum, because I figure in November 1942, there was no such thing as an "old" TBF-1 Avenger. Dirt, grime, and wear were applied... erm... liberally. The Surprise Just wait and see. The Build A few months ago, I came across this picture and fell in love: The oil staining on the cowl, goofy “6” digit on the under cowl, muck on the belly and landing gear, stained prop, 2-tone prop tips, and bald tires all cried out to be built. Unfortunately, no one makes a 1/32 TBF-1, so I sucked it up and decided to take on the task of scratch-back dating it. In my many references that I acquired for this build, I came across this picture as well, where the flight crews prepared for the mission while ground crewman warmed the engine. … and thus the idea of the vignette was born. And finally… On to the show: And now the surprise: "CLEAR PROP!" The kit is hand-wired with 9 lights and an electric motor to spin the propeller. Each wing has a pair of position lights in addition to another in the rudder. There's a formation light on the top of the spine aft of the turret, and three interior cockpit lights. The motor is a brushless drone motor and all are wired in parallel through the side-mounted switch to a 4.5v battery pack glued to the bottom of the foam board. Having never done electronics before, this was a big challenge for me. If I do it again, I'll find a different motor as this one builds up too much heat and therefore limits the run time. Live and learn. It's nearly impossible to see now, but the interior is extensively detailed throughout. Scratchbuilding plus the Eduard detail kit went a long way to make the interior look like a TBF-1. The oil staining here was done with Abteilung 502 "Engine Grease" oil paints and Migs "Fuel stains" weathering "wash." I am convinced it is actually used motor oil. I've been around enough airplane and car engine in my life to know the smell. The trough for the forward-firing .30 cal found on TBF-1s was the most challenging part of the backdate process. I took some spare photoetch sheet and bent it into a U shape. After cutting out the panel and studying reference pictures, I shaped and test fit the piece about a thousand times until it looked about right. The turret was extensively detailed through reference photos. Electrical cabling, placards, seatbelts, and other scratch pieces were added to enhance the increased detail from the Eduard kit. Insignia and numerical stencils were done on my Silhouette Cameo cutter. Smaller stencils are kit decals.

Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well! With the JASDF F-4EJ done, I will now be moving on to my next project. This time, I have decided to build Trumpeter's 1/32 MiG-21UM in the Czech Stress Team's rather eye catching livery. Aftermarket sets for this kit are limited but I will be using the following: CAM KM-1 resin seats Quickboost FOD covers HAD resin wheels Master Model metal pitot tubes Some scratchbuilding in the cockpit and wheel wells will also be required. I'm aware of the kit's shape and dimension issues, however, I'm not sure if I'll be able to fix any of them. But what I find to be the worst part of the kit are the decals. The Czech Air Force insignia colours are in the wrong order and the provided decals for the wings' "wooden" sections aren't even close to my reference photos! I ordered the Tiger Wings decals for the same livery but although the insignia colours are correct the wood effect is still atrocious... Should have done better research before buying these... I came across Ricardo Dacoba's wonderful build of the same model in the FSM Oct 2010 issue and have placed an order for this magazine in hopes of getting more info on how he did the painting on the wings. In the meantime, if anyone can provide more info or advice on the kit I would be most grateful! And a bit of history. In 1955, the then state of Czechoslovakia became a founding member of the Warsaw Pact. Soon after, the MiG-21 entered service with the Czechoslovak Air Force. In 1993, the state was succeeded by the Czech Republic and the MiG-21s were passed on to the newly formed Czech Air Force. Sadly, the livery of choice was short lived as the aircraft crashed in 1998 over the town of České Budějovice due to bad weather. Luckily, there was no loss of life (https://www.key.aero/forum/modern-military-aviation/72459-czech-stress-team). The MiG-21s were eventually replaced by the Swedish SAAB Gripen in 2005 after 43 years of service.

Hey guys, how about a big Flanker...? Sorry I'm late, but still, there is plenty of time for that big bird..... not planning to do fancy stuff nor scratch... for now.. I'm going to use Wolfpack pit, Linden Hill decal, Aerobonus pilot and maybe I'll try some Reskit after market like their Exhaust and twin store carrier.... . Had that huge box on my top shelf for over 10 years or so..... Wasn't sure about doing the version in the kit, until I got my hand on that Linden Hill sheet from a resaler at Ajax contest. The ''George and Dragon''..... Blue 43. So let's start timidly.... with the pit.. I always start with a solid XF-69, once dry, I'll put a few layers of clear coat before the wash step... Will do more this week-end, thanks for watching and have fun. Dan.