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8 NEW BUILDS INSIDE

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HARRIER MADE FOR TWO WE CONTINUE WITH OUR MAMMOTH 1:24 T.2 CONVERSION…

January 2017

£4.50 / Issue 138

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KIT BUILD

WARHAWK WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE BRAND-NEW AIRFIX 1:48 P-40B

THE MIGHTY 88 WE SHOW YOU HOW TO BUILD AN ACCURATE REPLICA FROM ICM’S 1:48 JUNKERS JU88A-5.

KIT BUILD

WARHORSE

GET THE BEST FROM RODEN’S 1:48 T-28 TROJAN - STEP BY STEP.

STUKA ON A SHOESTRING…

A BACK-TO-BASICS PROJECT USING A MINIMAL OF TOOLS, A BASIC KIT AND NO AIRBRUSH! MAI COVER 138.indd 1

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How to contact us:

Contents

Tel: Fax:

VOLUME 12. ISSUE 138. JANUARY 2017

VOL.12 ISS.138 JANUARY 2017

01525 222573 01525 222574

Model Airplane International. Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX, England

Editorial:

Editor:

REGULARS P04 - EDITORIAL P06 - NEWSLINE P78 - EVENTS DIARY P79 - CONTACTS DETAILS P81 - NEXT ISSUE P82 - FINAL THOUGHTS… REVIEWS P8 KIT PREVIEW

We take an early look at the Zoukei-Mura 1:48 F-4J Phantom II

P70 NEW RELEASES DECALS The latest decal releases assessed

P74 NEW RELEASES BOOKS

Some of the latest aviation and modelling titles

FEATURES P12 IT’S SHOWTIME!

Alan Firbank remembers the 2016 IPMS showcase from The International Centre, Telford

P26 WARHORSE

Get the best from Roden’s 1:48 T-28 Trojan - step by step.

P34 KWIK BUILD

Drewe Manton takes a look at the Airfix 1:72 Martlet IV

P38 STUKA ON A SHOESTRING…

A back-to-basics project using a minimal of tools, a basic kit and no airbrush!

P46 THE MIGHTY 88

We show you how to build an accurate replica from ICM’s 1:48 Junkers Ju88A-5.

P54 WARHAWK

The editor reviews the brand-new Airfix 1:48 P-40B

P60 WHITE 27

We build Eduard’s 1:72 Lavochkin La-7

P64 WOOD ’N’ WINGS

Spencer Pollard [email protected] Alan Harman Marcus Nicholls Hannah McLaurie Paula Gray Sean Leslie

Publisher: Group Editor: Administration Manager: Office Manager: Advertising Manager:

Art:

Editorial Design: Advertising Design:

Peter Hutchinson Peter Hutchinson & Alex Hall

Advertisement and circulation:

Model Airplane International, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX. Tel: 01525 222573 Fax: 01525 222574 E-mail: [email protected]

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Subscriptions:

We take a detailed look at the building and painting of the Wingnut Wings 1:32 Albatros B. II ‘Early Type’

Model Airplane International, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX. Tel: 01525 222573 Fax: 01525 222574 Rates: UK £44, Eire and Europe £56, Worldwide Air £69. Website: www.modelairplaneinternational.com

P20 A HARRIER MADE FOR TWO

Subscrib SEE P AGE

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The editor converts the ancient Airfix 1:24 Harrier Gr.1 into the T.2 trainer. This month we look at the airframe.

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Model Airplane International is published monthly by Doolittle Media, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX. Entire Contents © 2016 Doolittle Media, Reproduction in part or whole of any text, photograph or illustration without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. While due care is taken to ensure the content of Model Airplane International is accurate, the publishers and printers cannot accept liability for errors and omissions. Advertisements are accepted for publication in Model Airplane International only upon Doolittle Media’s standard terms of acceptance of advertising, copies of which are available from the advertising sales department of MAI.

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EDITORIAL A SHOW OF HANDS (AND MODELS) Written by Jonathan Mock

N

o vember in autumnal England marks two annual events – bonfire night and remembrance Sunday. It’s also that time of year when modellers from around the world are gearing up for the IPMS (UK) Nationals, or Scale Model World as it has now been rebranded. I first visited the ‘Nats’ in 1987 when they were held at

Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. As a kid I’d read a lot about them in the model magazines and it seemed like some kind of impossible Shangri-La. I’d been to model shows, my first was in Wokingham Town Hall in the early 1970s, I was about five years old and accompanied by a very patient mother. In the 80s we had the local Bristol Model Soldier

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“

Putting on a show this vast is a huge logistical undertaking and credit must go to the unpaid volunteers of the IPMS (UK) who give up their time each year to organise such a lavish event

Society Show, held at the Watershed, which seemed positively extravagant, taking up two moderately sized rooms! My trip to Stoneleigh in 1987 was happenstance – my elder sister knew the place from her day job as a vet, so she offered to drive me up there. On a cold November Sunday we travelled up the M5 and cross country (we had one cassette tape to listen to - ‘Broadcast’ by Cutting Crew) before finally arriving at the Royal Agricultural Cottage and there it was – the ‘Nats’. Walking in through the door was an overwhelming experience, this was a show on a scale I’d never seen before. And here were Airfix and Matchbox showing off their new wares! It was too much to take in for the few hours we were there, I remember coming away with carrier bags full of kits and my mind reeling at the prospect of Matchbox’s forthcoming 1/72 Wessex. While Stoneleigh seemed vast in its scope compared to other UK model shows, the truth is that it was a fraction of what Scale Model World is now, in fact some of the one-day shows in the UK now dwarf the high water mark that used to be ‘Nats’. Incredibly though, this huge international model show that we take for granted now wasn’t always this way. Originally the focus of

‘Nats’ was mostly on the model competition, with entrants going through regional branch rounds to get to the finals – a sort of Strictly Come Modelling or the Great British Make Off. There were some model displays as well but conspicuously absent were traders – in fact there were elements within the IPMS (UK) who were highly resistant to the show being ‘commercialised’ in such a fashion! But change often propels progress, in much the same way that the arrival of PP Aeroparts and Aeroclub’s metal accessories forced the society to rethink the “plastic” element in their mandate, again to much resistance. The annual IPMS Show at the RAF Museum eventually morphed into Stoneleigh, then, as the show outgrew it’s venue, Castle Donnington (with a blip called Peterborough that is best forgotten…) before finding its new home at Telford. In fact the name of the town has now become as synonymous with the event as Stoneleigh was in 1980s. Mention Telford in modelling circles and folk know exactly what you mean, rather than alluding to new town named after an illustrious engineer. There is also the irony that whilst the hobby is now a fraction of the general uptake and volume of sales there were during the peak in the 1970s, the shows are much larger now,

”

and the flow of new releases seemingly more frequent than has ever been in the hobby. As mentioned earlier, some of the regional one-day model shows in the UK now dwarf what used to be the Nats. 20 years ago, IPMS Avon used to be able to cram its show into the delightfully bijou Bath Pavilion, now it takes over two halls of a sports centre! Which brings us back to Scale Model World, which spreads across three halls and a day’s padding around them can easily rack up as four or five miles worth of walking (Apple Health app – other smart phones are available). Putting on a show this vast is a huge logistical undertaking and credit must go to the unpaid volunteers of the IPMS (UK) who give up their time each year to organise such a lavish event, often just to be on the receiving end of complaints about the traffic, the queues etc… My only complaint about the show is that no sooner are you walking in on the Saturday morning, than you are getting ready to leave on the Sunday afternoon. The whole two days becomes a blur of walking, buying, talking and endless rounds of tea. 2016 was my thirtieth Nats, if you’ve never been to the show before, make 2017 your first. And bring good walking shoes. ■

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Newsline CARACAL DECALS www.caracalmodels.com

MORE NEW SHEETS FOR MODELLERS TO ENJOY!

Caracal Models has released nine brand-new, exciting decal sheets this month! The list of sheets is as follows: CD144002 - 1/144 C-141 Starlifter: Finally, some high-quality decals for the new Roden C-141B kit! A wide variety of options on this sheet, including markings for the NASA flying laboratory and markings for C-141As in case you would like to try a conversion. CD144004 - 1/144 C-135 Family General Purpose Markings: A comprehensive set of general purpose markings to improve your C-135 projects using the Minicraft kits. On this sheet, you will find a variety of national insignia, maintenance stencils, unit badges and other details to enhance or replace poor quality kit decals. CD72053 - 1/72 A-1E / AD-5 Skyraider: A diverse set of markings for the “fat face” Skyraider; scaled down from their popular 1/48 series. Designed for the Monogram kit. CD72056 - 1/72 USAF B-1B Lancer: A scaled-down version their 1/48 scale B-1B Lancer sheet, with two new options! This comprehensive, high quality sheet will set a new standard for 1/72 scale B-1B decals; and will look great on your Monogram B-1B’s enhanced with the new Barracuda resin sets. CD48107 - 1/48 DHC-2 (L-20 / U-6) Beaver: A new sheet for the Hobbycraft DHC-2 Beaver kit; with markings for USAF, US Navy and British Army. Limited release of 250 copies. CD48112 - 1/48 USAF F-106A Delta Dart: The third installment in their 1/48 scale F-106 series, this new sheet provides four colourful options; including the all-time favorites 318th FIS and 49th FIS. CD48113 - 1/48 Air National Guard P-51D Mustang - Part 2: This is the follow-on to the first ANG Mustang sheet we have released several years ago. This sheet features markings for Wyoming, Tenneessee and Pennsylvania Air National Guard units. Try something different on your next Mustang project! CD48115 - 1/48 AV-8B Harrier II Plus - Part 1: We will be releasing a series of new Harrier decals in the next few months - the first one in this series features markings for five current / recent AV-8B+ from various USMC units; including three colorful unit commander aircraft. Designed for the Hasegawa kits. CD48118 - 1/48 U-2 Dragon Lady: This new decal sheet for early U-2 spyplanes features markings for no fewer than 10 aircraft; including markings for Maj. Rudolf Anderson’s aircraft which was shot down over Cuba during the tense days of the Missile Crisis. A comprehensive set of stencils (including those fuel type markings that nobody seems to have gotten right) and a set of number digits round out this sheet; allowing you to build almost any early U-2A/C from 4080th SRW! Designed for the Hawk / Testors kits. Limited release of 300 copies.

BUT WAIT, THEY ARE NOT DONE YET!

As if nine new releases were not enough, they have also received very limited stock of some their previously sold-out popular sheets. Many of these have been sold out everywhere; and once these are gone, we will not reprint any of them again. We only have fewer than 150 of each. CD72029 - 1/72 F-35A/B Lightning II: The 1/72 scale F-35A/B sheet is back - complete with USAF, USMC, RAF, RAAF and Dutch AF markings. One of the most popular sheets we have released in this scale. CD72030 - 1/72 KC-135R Stratotanker: Absolutely the last chance to get our unbelievably popular 1/72 scale KC-135R sheet. CD48050 - 1/48 US Navy AD-5 / A-1E Skyraider: The Navy AD-5 sheet is available once again! http://www.caracalmodels.com/

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ITALERI

www.italeri.com

H-21C SHAWNEE “FLYING BANANA” - ANOTHER ADDITION TO THEIR GROWING 1:48 RANGE…

The H-21 Shawnee is known for its nickname “flying banana” which derives from the particular upward angle of the aft fuselage. The fuselage designed, in this original way, has been developed to permit the adoption of the two powerful tandem rotors and the oversized propellers. Thanks to the two rotors and the strong aerodynamic structure, the H-21 became a real and reliable ‘workhorse’ able to successfully perform the most demanding transport tasks in any kind of environments. Widely used by the United States Army since the first half of the 50s, it was also deployed in the Vietnamese operation theatre for use in transporting troops and tactical supplies since 1961. To increase the defensive capability the H-21 was often armed of mobile machine guns to the side doors. It was gradually replaced by the more modern UH-1 and CH-47.

ALCLAD II

www.airbrushes.com

NEW PAINTS AND WEATHERING PRODUCTS HIT THE MARKET! The Airbrush Company are pleased to announce these new products in the Alclad II range. These include a number of new aircraft-specific sets, as well as additions to both their Mil-Spec enamel and Hogwash Weathering washes ranges. Should you wish to find out more, please check out the Airbrush Company website. The list of new items is as follows

Alclad II Hogwash Weathering Washes ALCHW006 - Hogwash Night Blue ALCHW007 - Hogwash Deep Rust ALCHW008 - Hogwash Light Rust ALCHW009 - Hogwash Earth (30ml) Each 30ml bottle costs £3.85

Alclad II Mil-Spec Airbrush Enamels (New Sets) ALCESET-001 - Early War RAF set. ALCESET-002 - Late War RAF set. ALCESET-007 - USN WWII Aircraft set. Each 3 x 30 ml set costs £13.50 Alclad II Mil-Spec Airbrush Enamels ALCE024 - RAF Desert Sand/Pink ALCE062 - British Brown Bess ALCE214 - RLM65 Hellblau Pale Blue ALCE222 - RLM76 Weissblau White Blue ALCE231 - RLM78 Himmel/Hellblau ALCE314 - Camouflage Gray ALCE315 - Gunship Gray ALCE317 - USN WWII Aircrft Light Grey ALCE650 - Israeli Sand Grey Each 30ml bottle costs £4.50

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ZOUKEI-MURA’S 1:48 F-4J PHANTOM II We take a look at a wonderful new Cold-War jet in 1:48 Written by Spencer Pollard

O

n 10 May 1972, Lieutenant Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Lieutenant (junior grade) William P. Driscoll flying an F-4J, call sign “Showtime 100”, shot down three MiG-17s to become the first American flying aces of the war. Their fifth victory was believed at the time to be over a mysterious North Vietnamese ace, Colonel Nguyen Toon, now considered mythical. On the return flight, the Phantom was damaged by an enemy surface-to-air missile. To avoid being captured, Cunningham and Driscoll flew their burning aircraft using only the rudder and afterburner (the damage to the aircraft rendered conventional control nearly impossible), until they could eject over water.

IN MINIATURE

Having seemingly concentrated on the esoteric, the news that ZM would be creating an F-4 Phantom in 1:48, came as something of a surprise. Having recently seen the very impressive Academy kit hit the shelves, many wondered what this new kit could offer that was above and beyond what Academy had created. Well, let’s take a look shall we? Zoukei-Mura’s kit was released for the first time as Scale Model World, many modellers being able to pick up kits that they had pre-ordered prior to the event. It is safe to say that there was an audible buzz around the ZM stand, modellers who had seen the kit up close being very impressed by the contents. Having seen the kit built up on their stand and now having seen the sample we have to build, I can’t help but think that that initial excitement was more than justified! Open the box and you are faced with a fairly standard looking plastic kit, the breakdown of the parts being nothing particularly ground-breaking. For instance, the fuselage is split into two halves, wings are full lower span with separate upper panels and all other features are moulded as you would expect - multipart undercarriage, cockpit interior and weapons. Nothing new there - but let’s dig a little deeper… Construction begins with the ejection seats and it is here that you first glimpse the astonishing levels of detail that ZM has incorporated into their kit. Having taken a look at these — but not yet

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The U.S. Navy McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II (BuNo 155800, NG-100). This aircraft was assigned to fighter squadron VF-96 Fighting Falcons, Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9), aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CVA-64) in February 1972. Having the callsign "Showtime 100" it was used by Lt. Randy Cunningham and Lt.JG Willie Dricoll for their 3rd, 4th, and 5th MiG-kills on 10 May 1972. However, it was hit by a North Vietnamese SA-2 surface-to-airmissile and the crew had to eject over the Gulf of Tonkin. (US Navy Image)

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assembled them — I can say with some conviction that these may be the best seats I have ever seen in a plastic model kit. Everything that is found on the seat — apart from straps — is found on the half a dozen parts that make up those found in the kit. And the detail doesn’t stop there: it continues across the entire cockpit. A large tub is decorated with a comprehensive collection of panels, bulkheads and sidewalls, everything being detailed with a level of finesse and complexity that’s hard to comprehend. The instrument faces for instance are complete down to the finest feature; similarly, the side consoles have every switch and control in place, as do the sidewalls. It’s all there! Then when you think you have seen it all, you notice the separate parts for the cockpit sills that feature the most delicate collection of cable runs moulded in situ. Superb doesn’t even come close. Moving on, the modeller will deal with the nose gear bay (more stunning detail) before completing the cockpit and joining the fuselage halves. Throughout the instructions you will find very comprehensive colour call-outs and details on how to deal with the plastic parts, in the best possible way. In order to facilitate the complex moulding and detail that ZM has, there are moulding pips and tiny part extensions that need to be carefully removed, all of which are shown and described in words, over the entirety of the instructions. I rather liked this, some time being spent just reading the instructions, such was the detail included on each page.

With the joining of the fuselage halves, you are given your first impression of the surface detail and its delicacy. The model is decorated with very finely incised panel lines, rivets — where appropriate — and raised panels and stiffeners. Several months ago I heaped praise on the Tamiya F-14 and its surface features, well, this new Phantom may have outdone even that much-vaunted kit! Place them side by side and you will see no difference in quality between the two - it really is that good! Though the fuselage is broken down in a conventional manner, there are tweaks that help create that perfect finish that we all strive to achieve. For instance, the upper fuselage features a drop-in plate that deals with the upper panels and this ensures that there is no seam and no damage to the panels that wrap over the upper surface of the fuselage. What this means is that the only joints to be dealt with are those found in front of the windscreen and below the nose, all others falling on actual panel lines. With attention turning to the wings, the first thing to deal with are the engines that ZM supply for the interior of the rear fuselage. If you chose to fix them in place, the superb detail found on these little jewels will be virtually invisible within the model, but you are given the chance to show one off, a stand being supplied on which to display the completed engine. The wings are simple in design and construction, only the engines and full-length intake tunnels

adding any real complexity to the proceedings. As with the fuselage, surface detail is superb, separate control surfaces add to the party, as do airbrakes and delicate catapult hooks. Beware of the interior of the tunnels though, as they feature some rather prominent ejector pins marks that will need to be sanded smooth. Before dealing with the stores, the instructions guide you through construction of the undercarriage and their associated doors. Once again a simple approach to construction has not reduced the levels of detail, each fixture and fitting being superbly rendered. All tyres are moulded in plastic and as such no concession is made to flat spots, which to this particular scribe is a good thing; I’m always struck by the idea that tyres treated in this way often look ‘flat’ rather than ‘flattened’ so seeing tyres moulded in this way is more than welcome! The package is completed with a set of canopy parts (supplied either as individual sections, or one long part) and then tanks and weapons to use under the wings. Unlike the Academy kit that supplied all manner of whizz-bangs, this one takes a route of least resistance to offer a centreline drop tank, underwing tanks, AIM-7E Sparrows and AIM-9D Sidewinders - all of which are appropriate to the single, chosen scheme offered in the kit, Showtime 100. Detail across all of the weapons and tanks is very good, separate fins being used as standard on all missiles.

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Though I can understand the decision to offer only ‘Showtime 100’, I can’t help but think that it was something of a lost opportunity to offer something more original. Given the sheer number of schemes that the F-4J has appeared in, this rather overexposed aircraft is disappointing, but, it is what it is! The kit supplies a full-colour painting guide that

includes everything that you will need to paint and decal your creation. Decals, printed by Cartograf, offer all of the larger markings, as well as plenty of small stencilling and instrument panel/console decals. I have to say that the decals for the cockpit look to be really poor both in terms of design and colour and so given the quality of the moulded plastic pieces, I can

see little that would persuade me to use them! The rest of the sheet though is well-printed and accurate, so should you decide to build this famous aircraft, you can be sure that the markings will match the rest of the kit. For my build I will be using other decals, mine being from a Furball sheet that has just arrived… ■

FINAL VERDICT After reading this intentionally short preview, it must be clear how highly we regard this new kit from ZM. Even the most cursory of glances reveals levels of detail and sophistication that one can only surmise will go some way to creating the ultimate F-4J in this scale. But it’s not perfect. Design elements have created areas that aren’t quite spot-on; there are ejector pin marks within the intakes, on the undercarriage legs and within areas such as undercarriage doors - nothing that can’t be dealt with easily, but issues that remove marks from the overall score. Having not started assembly, it is hard to judge how well the kit will go together, but it appears that the parts will join with precision so I feel that it will be a fun build that shouldn’t tax a modeller too much. But it is in the area of detail that the kit really scores highly, everything being a step up from every other F-4 so far seen - including the recently released Academy offering. So not perfect then, but very close and that means that anyone who builds this kit is in for a treat. Now, where did I put this decals..? Thanks to Zoukei-Mura for the review sample.

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SHOWTIME WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALAN FIRBANK

SCALE MODELWORLD 2016

T

he show at Telford seems to come around more quickly each year. No sooner is it over, we have Christmas and then the next one appears over the horizon. I heard someone say that we have been using the International Centre for the show for fifteen years, surely not. That has flown by. Many of the changes made to the show last year have stuck and there is no longer space to include the occasional real helicopter or tank. The Kit Swap and Competition Rooms remained in their same places. Many complained about the centre’s efforts to cut down on the numbers of people in the centre on Friday afternoon and early on Saturday morning for setting up, each club being limited to four members and traders were banned from selling on Friday afternoon. That probably did them a favour, discouraging IPMS members from getting under foot when traders were busy setting up for the weekend. In the end, the new routine seemed to work well.

WE BRING YOU THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM TELFORD One aspect of the running of the event that seriously needs attention is the traffic queues on Saturday morning. Three people taking the money at the gate of the main car park is plainly not enough. I heard that the police had turned up and asked them to open the gate early because of the waiting traffic blocking the local roads. When I arrived at 07.45 there was a queue over a half mile long on the public roads and only a handful of cars in the car park. People not far behind me had been sitting in the queue for an hour by the time they parked. I wonder how many turned around and went home? It was clear to see by the packed gangways that there was a big attendance on Saturday. By contrast, Sunday morning was much more civilised. In the halls there was a large and colourful contingent from overseas IPMS clubs. More euros to the pound made the goodies on sale look very good value for those travelling from the other side of the English Channel. They bring a variety of their local drinks, sweets and snacks to share and there is a party

atmosphere most of the time in Hall 3 where many of the overseas clubs are based. Major hobby companies were in attendance again. Revell, Airfix, The Hobby Company (representing Tamiya and Italeri) and Pocketbond (representing Trumpeter, Academy, etc) all had new products to show eager visitors. Eduard and Zoukei-Mura both had large stands that were busy, especially early on Saturday when eager buyers were snapping up new kits. Zoukei-Mura’s new 1:48 F-4J Phantom kits were limited to one per buyer, but still sold out quickly. We don’t forget the many smaller companies that come along to make the show the attraction that it is. These days it is not possible to get around everyone to see what is new and see all of the excellent work on the club stands in the two days. Running the competition must be the most thankless job of the weekend. This year the competition tables were well covered with models with in excess of 1,000 to be judged. Judging cannot be easy, especially

Hall 2 on a busy Saturday morning.

This fine

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Hall 1 just as the throng began to clear.

Tony Horton’s excellent Air To Air featuring a KC-97 ‘towing’ a B-47 built from the two 1:48 Academy kits took Silver in the Aircraft Diorama class.

This fine No. 617 Squadron Lancaster diorama took the Bronze award in the Aircraft Diorama class for Heinrich Kosier.

This tiny 1:144 Boulton Paul B.P.111A built by Brian Keates missed out on a class award, but was awarded the Mark One Models Trophy.

This diorama featuring a crashed Roland D.VIb built from the Wing Nut Wings kit by Rob Pollock took a Commended award.

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Rob Tuckley’s Silver Award winning Autogyro in 1:24 scale is a scratchbuilt entry in Class 32 for Miscellaneous Aircraft, any scale.

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This fine Kaman Huskie showing a superb weathered finish was the winner in Class 23 for larger helicopter models. The builder was Milan Pospisil.

This ‘What if’ Canberra F10 was the winner in Class 33 for Hypothetical Aircraft – any scale. The winning builder was Rob Ulrich. An excellent build of Trumpeter’s MiG 23 ‘Flogger’ appeared in Class 21 at Telford for kit detailed aircraft larger than 1:71.

A fine example of a Wing Nut Wings 1:32 Bristol Fighter F2 was Commended in Class 18 and the winner of the Albion Alloys Trophy. The builder was Aristeidis Polyzos.

The winner of the Gas Patch Trophy is this De Havilland 9A entered by Bill van Heerden.

This is the third Senior National Champion award for Stefano Marchetti with his scratchbuilt fantasy 1:8 Ferrari 330 P4-2/ TB. As well as the top award, Stefano’s model won the top Sci-fi and Fantasy prize and The Albion Alloys Trophy.

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The best Junior Aircraft Class entry was this excellently built and finished F6F-5 Hellcat built by Pavlina Samalova.

The Silver winning entry for junior aircraft modellers was this A6M5 Zero Type 52 built by Lukáš Hložukáš.

Another outstanding entry in the Junior Aircraft class was this Bronze Award winning Spitfire Mk.IXe built by Michal Briza.

This Loire 130 won Gold in Class 21, Best Aircraft in Show, The Alan Hall Memorial Trophy, The Keith Jones Memorial Trophy, the IPMS Czech Republic Award and the Jim Howard Trophy. The builder who was taking away all of these prizes was Juan Pedro Pujalte Sanchez. Amongst many new releases from Revell is their new 1:32 Me 262B-1 two seat Night Fighter, looking very good on Revell’s stand at Telford.

The 1:72 Airfix Victor, announced at last year’s show looking good in a grey and green camouflage pattern - and as built by our very own Drewe Manton! The kit should be in the shops before the end of 2016.

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The new Airfix Victor in the early anti-flash white scheme looking almost ready to go. The kit should be in sale before the end of 2016.

Airfix announced a 1:72 Phantom FG.1 at Telford. This is bound to be popular as it has been a long time since a British Phantom in this scale has been available.

The new Airfix 1:48 Stuka just missed being on sale at Telford. It should be in the shops by the time you read these words.

This excellent 1:48 Skyraider diorama was on the West Norfolk IPMS stand at Telford.

The 580 Modellers always put on an great display. Dave Foxall’s impressive 1:24 No. 4 Squadron Mosquito FB VI was one of several top class models.

Just part of a great table full of helicopters on one of the SIG displays at Telford.

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This German DFS 230 A glider won the Bronze award in any scale glider Class 31. The builder was Peter Hrib.

Winner of Class 12 is this 1:48 AMK Aero L.29 built by Jose Luis Echaide. The amazing tiger scheme came out of a bottle not from a decal sheet!

Joseph Fenech’s Silver winner in Class 12 was this lovely 1:48 JASDF RF-4E, everything out of the box.

Our editor, Spencer Pollard struck Gold in Class 11 with his Me109 G-6 from the Eduard kit.

Class 30 was one of the ‘thinner’ classes in competition this year. This Pflaz D.IIIs took the first place, built by Ron Kootje.

One of the most taxing standard schemes on a modern jet must be this splinter scheme on the Saab JA-37 Viggen. This one out of the Tarangus box plus detail parts, won Class 15. The builder was Zdenek Sebesta. Josef Dudycha’s An-2 Colt with a really good weathered finish took the Silver award in Class 26.

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Gold winner in Class 26 was this Stinson Reliant SR-9FD built by Hugh Beyts.

Class 29 was won by the FE 8 built by Hugh Beyts, another of a good number of models of WWI aircraft in competition.

against the clock but there was again some very controversial decisions. When looking at a collection of models, whether judging or just having a look, it is easy to be impressed by a model that on closer inspection has several building flaws. One rule that caught out several entrants was the one saying that ‘as kit’ entries should be accompanied by the

Class 24 is for smaller scale civil aircraft. This 1:144 Il-18 by Martin Nemec was awarded the Gold.

A finished example of the new Zoukei-Mura 1:48 F-4J Phantom kit that flew off the shelf on Saturday morning at Telford.

kit’s instructions. This does give the judges the opportunity to check that the model really is not modified beyond adding seat harness and changing colour schemes, etc. Those disqualified this year will no doubt remember next year. Let’s not forget the enormous amount of work that goes into organising the biggest

Builders of 1:48 kits have two exciting new kits coming from Airfix in 2017, the Hawker Sea Fury and Supermarine Walrus. Can’t wait to get my hands on these two.

model show in the world. The IPMS organisers are to be thanked and congratulated on another memorable weekend. We are looking forward to the 2017 show but hope that it does not come around too quickly! Now we bring you a look around the show and some of our favourites from the competition tables. ■

Great modelling skill and imagination shown on this impressive display of Chilean tankers and fighters taking on fuel. This display was the work of the Latin American Aviation SIG. How on earth do you move this one around the country?

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COMPETITION We have teamed up with our friends at The Airbrush Company to offer one lucky reader the chance of winning the new Sparmax ARISM Viz compressor!

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FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THIS FANTASTIC COMPRESSOR, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ANSWER THIS QUESTION How many models of Sparmax airbrushes are available from www.Airbrushes.com? Send your answers to Doolittle Media Ltd. on a postcard/sealed down envelope to:

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BUILT AND WRITTEN BY SPENCER POLLARD

A HARRIER MADE FOR TWO This month we take a look at correcting the engine and then beginning some of the airframe modifications

The size of this project can be gauged by this shot of the model on my bench alongside a 1:48 Me109. It’s huge!

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Work began with the jet nozzles and their location. The openings for the nozzles are far too ‘open’ and should have the interiors blanked off with structural members to seal everything in. This is what they look like in the kit.

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That being so, the openings were dammed with Blu Tack and then the walls filled with casting resin. Once dry, the Blu Tack was removed to reveal the shapes that you see here. A little cleaning up resulted in perfect seals that would prevent any onlooker from seeing into the fuselage with the nozzles in place.

This is the opening for the left-hand, cold nozzle. Note the sealing resin and the plasticard extension to the front edge of the lip. In the kit, this sweeps backwards instead of forwards, so needs be added and then blended in.

One of the big issues with the kit is that the engine and its location within the fuselage, will not allow the nozzles to centre properly within their openings. Note in this shot how the mount for the nozzle on the far side overlaps the opening in the fuselage.

Deciding that the problem lay with the engine being slightly too long, it was cut in half, a 2 mm shim removed and then it was reassembled. The nozzles would now fit properly within the openings on either side of the fuselage.

With the nozzles dry-fit into their locators on the sides of the engine, the engine was correctly centred within the fuselage and then glued in place. Happy that it was where it should be, Evergreen strips were used to brace the engine so that it would not move once work began on the intakes and the complex tunnel that needed to be built within each one.

A quick view of the basic nozzles, test-fit in place, before any work had been carried out to accurise and detail each one.

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Work begins on the intake interiors. The Airfix kit’s intakes are completely inaccurate, so there is no option but to completely rebuild each one, adding accurate lining structures and the openings for the auxiliary doors. Prepare for some work!

The first step in rebuilding the intakes is to open out the bell-shaped tunnel that runs from the rear edge of the auxiliary doors to the face of the fan. This is why the engine must be fixed in place, the bell needing to be perfectly placed to allow the fan to be added later on. Note also the triangular wall that needs to be added between the two intakes.

The bell was made piece by piece using Evergreen strips, measured and cut one by one and then glued in place with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

Whilst the intakes were drying out (a week being needed), work could start on the tail. Step one was to carefully measure where the extension would be added and then remove a section of the kit fuselage with a razor saw.

Initially, I had planned to build the extension with plasticard which was less than successful! Here is the early prototype piece being test fitted along with the original — and inaccurate — T.4 fin that I had planned to use.

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Holding the parts in place with masking tape, I could gain a sense of how the conversion looked and what needed to be done. As it turned out, that meant throwing the parts in the bin and starting again…

A close-up of the completed bay. This was a fun little project!

Another major problem with the kit is the airbrake bay: it is both too long and has no interior to speak of. As the airbrake drops down when the aircraft is on the ground, the bay needed to be shortened (the rear quarter of the airbrake sits on the back of the fuselage rather than in the bay), and then the interior of the bay built up from plasticard, rod and strip. The resin part was offered for use as part of this project, but it was deemed to be simply too poor for consideration.

Here’s a comparison between the new interior and what Airfix supply…

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As with the rear of the intakes, the lining for the forward section in front of the auxiliary doors, needed to be rebuilt to accurately represent how the actual intake look. This was done with plasticard formers and Milliput Superfine White, smoothed over with water and then sanded with wet ’n’ dry. Note the Milliput on the sides of the nose; after two months it still hadn’t settled!

After several days work, here’s how the intakes look with their correctly split interior.

A final shot of the intake interiors and their fit against the nose. Before fixing the nose permanently in place, fillets would need to be created to blend the edges of the intakes smoothly into place. We will take a look at that, next month…

With the openings for the auxiliary doors dealt with and filed smooth, the intakes could be glued in place, filled and then sanded to blend them in with the surrounding fuselage. The fit here is terrible and much time was spent trying to achieve a smooth finish.

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IN N LE AN B M S LA H ST AI AC KI V B A L OC AL ST

KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

SPECIFICATION:

RODEN 1/48 TROJAN 28D Kit No: ROD450 Materials IM Availability: Hannants or Eduard e:shop Price Guide: £39.99

BEFORE STARTING: ● 1 mm brass rod ● Lead Fishing Weight ● Johnsons Klear ● White Tack ● Micro Gloss ● Mr Cement S ● Micro Set decal solution ● Squadron Green Putty

PAINTS USED: Tamiya Black XF-1 White XF-2 Desert Yellow XF-59 Deep Green XF-26 Black Green XF-27 Red X-27 Vallejo Metal Color Chrome Pale Burnt Metal.

AIRBRUSH USED: Iwata eclipse HB- SBS

ACCESSORIES USED: Eduard Big -Ed EBIG4983

WAR HORSE BUILT AND WRITTEN BY GREG PHILLIPS

The Trojan was developed to replace the very successful T-6 (Texan) as a trainer and first flew in 1949.The D variant being built here had six hard points, three under each wing, to carry various loads. Additionally carrying two guns under the wings. These variants saw considerable action in South Vietnam. This trainer proved to be the most capable of all trainers to be converted for combat use.

T

he Trojan has always taken my interest ever since my dad made the Monogram kit back in the mid sixties. What fascinated me as a kid was the retractable undercarriage taking with it the doors when closing. So when Roden released their series of Trojans, I decided to get the ‘D’ variant. Upon opening the box and looking at the contents inside you get a lot of parts with that typical textured surface with some fine panel lines. Lots of small fine detailed parts here that I know will give me problems later when separating them from their gates. Taking the parts out of the plastic bag to have a closer look, showed that a very detailed cockpit could be made from the kit. But in this scale and with the Trojan having a very visible cockpit in full view, I felt that an upgrade would still be required.

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

The kit comes with decals for three versions, two in light grey and one in that typical American Southeast Asia camouflage. There are quite a few companies that supply upgrades for the Trojan and decided to go with Eduard’s Big-Ed upgrade set which contains four packets: Masks, surface panels, painted cockpit fret with two extra large frets for undercarriage and surface detail and finally, a set of ‘remove before flight’ flags. Looking at the upgrades supplied it’s hard to believe that all this will fit onto one Trojan! As usual, the kit’s instructions were looked over just to get a feel for the assembly process and with nothing that would concern me, I went on my own merry way to decide what to assemble first. Eduard’s Big-Ed set. Upgrades galore.

The cowl and fuselage halves came together with no problems. This first act will trip me up later.

Roden’s cockpit looks pretty good straight from the box.

Because the Trojan cockpit is very visible, canopy closed or open, the coloured cockpit fret should be a must.

The etched seats look good on their own, but needed cushions adding. These were made from kitchen roll and some basic artwork.

BODY TALK

This started with the joining of the fuselage halves and the front cowl. Before gluing these parts together, the cockpit tub was dry-fitted just to make sure that this approach would give me no problems. (The fitting of the engine should have also been checked at this stage but because it wasn’t, this would give me issues later!) The next area was the cockpit. Here, the seats and rudder pedals would be replaced. The various parts needed for the cockpit were cleaned up and the raised surface detail on the various panels removed. The cockpit parts were painted light blue grey using the painted photo-etch fret as a guide to the colour. The etched seats were made up next and these looked good when made, but looking at photos of the seats they had what looked like cushions on them. It seemed a shame to hide the detailed seats with 'cushions' but at the same time they did look bare. So using the kits seats as a fitting guide, a strip of kitchen paper was cut and then folded a number of times to build up the thickness. The kitchen paper was then formed into a cushion by using a mixture of water and wood glue to keep the shape. Once this has dried the paper could be trimmed to shape. Then on the computer, a basic shape was drawn for the rear straps. The artwork here was coloured to make it easy to cut out. This shape was glued to the back of the formed cushions with the paper loops folded back on themselves. When all this had dried, it could then be painted and finally sealed with a coat of matt varnish. We were now ready to assemble the whole cockpit area, but my first concern here was the adhesive backed photo-etched panels. This was the first time I’d used these and reading the brief instructions made me apprehensive. First these parts are cut from their tabs, flush with the edge, as any excess is difficult to file with the adhesive backing and then slowly peeled from their backing, making sure not to bend the flat part. Then they are precisely placed on to the plastic surface and pressed down. This all went together without any problem, but the small etched parts will need superglue for a more secure fixing. With the cockpit ready to assemble, an issue

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The cockpit can now be assembled. And though the adhesive backed fret worried me, it came up a treat.

The exhaust parts 7A and 8A from the kit baffled me to how these should fit. In the end two millimetre aluminium rod cut into two millimetre slices, were used to replace these.

That simple radial engine looks good when painted even though I would have to pull it apart later.

was found with the plates that the seats rest behind. This issue raised its head when trying to feed the etched seat harness over the top of these parts as they didn’t look right. Maybe the seat rests should have slots made in them to feed the harness through? After struggling to find any decent pictorial reference, I decided to

Eduard’s undercarriage fret really adds detail here, but the etched parts are very fiddly.

leave these parts off. The rear exhaust pipes parts 7A and 8A from the kit also baffled me. The instructions appeared to show these items fitting through an imaginary slot inside of the fuselage. Because the slots are not there, maybe they fitted on the outside? But no! Instead of using

the parts supplied I used six pieces of two millimetre diameter aluminium rod and placed on the relevant surface.

RADIAL FACE

Not much to this area. It came up very well with some fine painting and with the

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

The undercarriage painted and given a wash looked great and I had no problems adding all of this to the Trojan.

Careful surgery is needed here and took me soon time to decipher what plastic required removing.

The etched parts here fitted with no issues.

The cockpit fitted inside the fuselage like a dream, and was protected from dust and damage by temporary taping the transparencies on.

25 grams of weight will be required and you will be fighting for space here. The Trojan will be difficult to handle from now on.

replacement photo-etch ignition harness that really adds to the front of that big open radial engine (which was a shame because it will end up being pulled apart). Because the fuselage and cowl were built up previously (thought I was being clever here) and because the engine wasn’t test fitted (as the cockpit was earlier) it did not fit into the assembled fuselage. So I had to feed the assembled parts 1E and 2E without parts 6E and 7E into the fuselage from the rear. Then adding glue to the front protruding lug of part 16B to attach to the engine. If this sounds complicated, it’s nothing to what I actually had to go through to make this work! The other option was to prise the front cowl off the fuselage, which might have been easier… The undercarriage legs were next. The etched detail really added to these and when painted and finished with a wash looked the part. The kit's plastic nose wheel strut looks

very dainty and when you consider the huge 25 grams worth of weight that will be required, the nose needs strengthening. It could be replaced with an aftermarket metal set or you could strengthen this area by cutting off the wheel support at the steering motor and using a piece of 1 mm brass rod bent into shape to replace the wheel support. This was the option that I went for.

WHEELBAYS

Because you get a replacement etch wheel bay, the wheel well areas on part 22B will need to be removed. The Eduard instructions are hard to read regarding this area and took some time to get a handle on just what areas of plastic needed to be removed. The same went for the plastic to be removed from the wing area, but I eventually got there. The etch parts here fitted nicely with no major issues. The nose bay is just a matter

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of adding the etched parts within it (easy). The finished cockpit tub slid into the fuselage like a dream. Before adding part 22B, the nose weight needs to be added. Adding 25 grams of lead fishing weight in here is a tight squeeze. This large amount of lead will make the model tricky to handle from now on, and if it slipped out my hands at any stage now it would end up in the bin, the damage being too much to repair. Be careful! The canopies were cleaned up and helped along with a dip in Klear. Once dry, the rear hood had its shroud added. I’m not a big fan of these two part canopy assemblies as they can leave a seam or lip close to the edge of the transparency which is hard to clean up. I'd have preferred a one-piece rear canopy instead. These canopies were then taped temporarily into place on the kit to help protect and keep dust away from the cockpit tub. With the main areas above finished, the rest of the kit could be assembled. It went together with no major issues with just a small amount of filler around part 22B.

SURFACE DETAIL

Within the Eduard pack came an etched fret for surface panels. There are quite a few of these to add to the model and so I spent some time decided if to use them or not. This could end up looking like a 'steam punked' aircraft if not careful. But in the interest of showing you

You get a fret of surface panels to add from the Big Ed set. Looking at this made me wonder whether this was too much at this scale. There were some issues with the larger panels staying flat.

The armament is the weakest point of the kit, with the gun barrels replaced and the kit’s rocket tubes replaced with ones pinched from a Tamiya Skyraider. The bombs are nasty looking things.

how they look after painting I decided to apply them anyway. These are adhesive like the cockpit fret and the parts will need to be trimmed from the fret right up to the edge of the part as before.

These went down well, but later on the larger etched panels started to lift away on one side. These could not be lifted off without damaging the panels because the areas that did stick were not budging. So a small drop of super Pre-shading can now commence on some of the panel lines.

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

And finally the main painting can begin.

Using White Tack and food bags to create the camouflage scheme.

glue on the edge kept them down. This was repeated on a few other larger panels. The other option is to use thinners on a blade to release the panel, then clean the adhesive off and use good old super glue. The weapons were next. These in my opinion are the weakest area of the kit. The bombs are nasty looking things and the barrels of the gun packs will need replacing on both types depending on which ones you use. The rocket tubes were replaced with ones from Tamiya’s Skyraider kit. The Rocket pods are the only armament that looked ok. I had hoped that the Big-Ed upgrade may have contained bomb fins and something to spice up the rest of the armaments. What are really needed are some nice resin armament replacements.

WHITE TACK ROLLS, PLEASE…

The dark green is being applied.

Once the three top colours are finished these are sealed with a clear coat…

…Before moving on to the black undersides.

Only three decals to apply here what could go wrong. Easy! Yes? No!

The painting could now begin on the Trojan after giving attention to the areas that might need a bit more filler or a touch more sanding. The pre shading was applied, so here and there edges were picked out from the panel lines with black paint. The first colour used over this was Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow (tan), 25% of the yellow being mixed with a few drops of white as the yellow tone appeared too rich. A pencil demarcation line was then drawn ready for the tan paint. Once the tan had dried, White Tack was rolled into shape and placed along the edges of the tan colour. The tan colour was then protected with cut-up food bags. Now I was ready for the mid green to be painted. Here, Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green was used. Then for the final colour; Tamiya XF-27 Black Green, mixed with black (using the same ratio as above) was sprayed on. Because the demarcation of the black green gets quite busy, the top surfaces were dealt with first. Wings and tailplanes are masked with White Tack and areas of paint protected with food bags again. Once dry, the fuselage and rear tail are tackled. This was then left to dry for a few hours and the paint sealed with a couple of light coats of Micro Gloss. This was then left overnight to dry before applying the black underside.

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Looking at the guide for the decals for the version chosen only three

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decals needed to be applied (it’s always the insignificant jobs that give me issues). These Decals look good on the sheet with a nice high sheen and so I thought would go down with no problems. The rear code decals on the rear tail went down okay but later, when dried, lifted from the surface. Micro set was used to help, but left me with a white discharge that was still there when dried. These should have been removed and I should have made my own decals, but being lazy I tried to salvage those put on. But this was to no avail, and ended up painting around the decals to hide the white areas. The final stage included assembling the ailerons and undercarriage. Considering how intricate and busy the undercarriage area is, it fitted together with no problems. ■

FINAL VERDICT

Overall Roden’s Trojan is a nice kit that fits together well with very little filler. The only minor issue was the weapons which could have done with an aftermarket upgrade. The decals to me were a major problem, even having to simply apply just three of them. But that could have been a self inflicted fault.

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

SPECIFICATION:

Airfix 1:72 Martlet IV Kit No. AX020274 Materials. IM Price guide. £9.99 Availability. All good model shops

BEFORE STARTING:

● Tamiya Masking tape ● Jammy Dog Masking tape ● Tweezers ● Flory Models Sanding Stick – Medium & Fine ● Uschi Van Der Rosten - Rig That Thing

PAINTS USED:

Mr Base White 1000 primer Mr Color H368 Sky H333 Extra Dark Sea Grey Mr Color Super Clear III

MART BUILT AND WRITTEN BY DREWE MANTON

W

A

irfix’s Martlet IV is the second standalone boxing of their all new tooled Wildcat kit. As the name indicates, this was the fourth variant of Grumman’s stubby little fighter to be inducted into the Fleet Air Arm under the name Martlet. These aircraft had a Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine, resulting in a shorter, stubbier cowling than it’s immediate

predecessor, the Martlet Mk.III with it’s Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine. Overall length remained unchanged though, as the Mk.IV’s fuselage was slightly longer ahead of the nose to account for the shorter cowling. The Mk.IV also had the heavy six gun folding wing of the F4F-4 variant, and was the Fleet Air Arm’s first Wildcat variant with a folding wing. It was also the last variant of the

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TLET IV

We take a look at the Fleet Air Arm’s first Wildcat variant, building the Airfix kit in 1:72 aircraft to be called Martlet, the Fleet Air Arm thereafter reverting to the US name of Wildcat for the Mk’s V & VI.

In Miniature

The Fleet Air Arm’s Martlets and Wildcats have been a minefield for the unwary, and indeed this model very nearly caught Airfix out as well! When initially shown, it had the original long

cowling and short nose of the P&W engined F4F-4, which would have been wrong for a Martlet Mk.IV. After having had the problem pointed out, Airfix cleverly tooled a new fuselage ring and cowling to allow the modeller to replicate the Mk.IV more accurately. These parts match the existing parts very well, and whilst not a perfect solution, with a little filling and rescribing looks fine in my opinion - it

was a relatively quick job to fill the join with superglue and talc, and sand it smooth before restoring any lost detail, and barely delayed the building of the model at all. Before joining the fuselage halves a reasonably detailed interior and wheel bay have to be assembled and painted to be trapped. Being moulded in the older style soft pale plastic, the kit is subject to some noticeable parting lines

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

that need to be carefully dealt with before assembly, however, forewarned is forearmed, and in doing this the modeller will find a very well fitting assembly awaits. The undercarriage is quite a complex assembly, and best dealt with in stages, allowing each stage to dry before proceeding, but it all comes together and fits nicely in the end. The tailwheel is moulded into the fuselage halves, and to this assembly is added the engine and cowling, one piece horizontal stabiliser and rudder, fit of all these parts being pretty much perfect, with the merest dab of Mr Surfacer and light sanding being all that was needed. The Mk.IV had a folding wing, and to Airfix’s extreme credit they provide two complete sets of wings, one for the folded and one for the extended option. I absolutely love this idea, and cannot comment highly enough on my enthusiasm for it! As someone who likes unfolded options, the idea of trying to assemble multi part wings so the folds look good, with no droops or other problems always fills me with dread, and has ruined many a model in the past, so top marks to Airfix for this, keep it up! The unfolded wings are simply in two parts, which fit perfectly, and then fit onto stubs on the fuselage. I needed a very small dab of Mr Surfacer on the Starboard side upper wing join, but that aside there really is very little to comment on - as reviews of kits go this is short and sweet, there’s simply

nothing of note to say! With a polish of all the joins, the windscreen was added and masked off, as was the main canopy (the kit provides a one piece closed canopy and a two part option should you desire the canopy open), and I was ready to paint - it was the work of a couple evenings to get to this point, this is an ideal kit for the younger or more inexperienced modeller.

Painting And Decals

The model was primed with Mr Base White 1000 primer, and given a light rub down with some worn Scotchbrite. All colours were from Mr Color , H368 Sky for the underside, with H333 Extra dark sea grey and a 50/50 mix of numbers 38 & 40 for the Dark Slate Grey on the topsides. The upper surface camouflage was done freehand with my Iwata HP-CH and heavily thinned paint. Each colour was weathered suing a lightened variant of the base colour, before light oversprays of the base colour were used to tone it all back down so it wouldn’t look too stark. With all the camouflage in place and any touch ups dealt with, the entire model was sprayed with Mr Color Super Clear III, thinned with levelling thinner and left to dry thoroughly. The model was now given a wash with oil paints - using mixes of Raw Umber, Payne’s Grey and white, modified in each case to match the underlying colour. This helps the

wash to blend with the camouflage better, and avoids a stark appearance, and is one of the reasons I tend to stay with oil paints for my washes - they are infinitely variable and easily handled as you go. There’s really not much to say about the decals - they are printed by Cartograf and were literally a twenty minute job to apply, using Super Set and Super Sol to bed them down, before slicing them along any panel lines they covered and applying more Super Sol. Once dry the panel lines were touched in around decals with more oil paint, and the model was given a final gloss coat to unify the paint and decals, using Super Clear III again, before final assembly. With the final details in place, the model then received several liberal, wet coats of Mr Colour matt varnish and allowed to dry on thoroughly before removing all the canopy masking and gluing the canopy in place. The wire was added from Uschi Van Der Rosten fine elastic thread secured with superglue. Some final weathering to the finish, including gun port and exhaust stains, and some other light weathering, was achieved using my now favourite method of dry brushing oil paints very gently onto the finish - for the most part I prefer this to more traditional methods like airbrushing and pastels these days, I find it more in scale and more controllable. And that was the model done in just a few days. ■

FINAL VERDICT This model really does distill everything that is best about modern Airfix productions into one small, neat package. Nicely tooled, well fitting, good options, superb decals and clear instructions make for a great package, whether for the experienced modeller to use as a base to detail, for someone wanting to build a collection or for the beginner - there’s something here for everyone. The plastic, an ongoing concern with Airfix kits, is of the older, soft type in this moulding, but Airfix have addressed that in more recent kits as well, so they really are starting to keep up with the leaders in the field in everything these days. “Highly recommended” is an overused phrase where reviews are concerned I know but. . . highly recommended!

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

SPECIFICATION:

Zvezda 1/72 Ju 87 B/R Kit No: 7306 Materials: IM Available From: All good online retailers Price Guide: Around £8 (UK)

TOOLS FOR THE PROJECT: ● Humbrol Liquid Poly ● Poundland heavy duty knife ● Poundland hobby knives ● Poundland masking tape ● Poundland tweezers ● Poundland wet and dry paper ● Poundland nail art paint brushes ● Poundland toolbox ● Poundland nail files ● Poundland plastic scourer ● Poundland cockpit sticks ● The Works cutting matt

PAINTS USED:

Humbrol 33 Matt Black acrylic 35 Matt Varnish 240 RLM 02 Grau acrylic Clear Revell Colour 49 Hellblau (RLM65) acrylic 40 Schwartzgrun (RLM70) acrylic 39 Dunkelgrun (RLM71) acrylic

BUILT AND WRITTEN BY JONATHAN MOCK

STUKA ON A

SHOESTRING A We embark on a back-to-basics project using a minimal of tools, a basic kit and no airbrush!

nyone new to the modelling hobby these days may well be overwhelmed by the huge array of kit, tools, glues and accessories out there, not to mention well meaning – but sometimes overly technical – advice from fellow modellers. It’s very easy to gloss over the basics and just assume that every modeller is up the same standard, and start talking about tools or techniques that are akin to trying to teach someone wheelies

when they’ve not quite mastered riding a bike. Sometimes a simple question can lead to a barrage of suggestions for tools and equipment, all of which do have their place in a modeller’s toolkit, but only once experience has been gained. Chris Ellis wrote about this in his 1960s master work ‘How to Go Plastic Modelling’ and he once slimmed his toolkit to just the bare essentials but was still able to turn out models to the same standard as his full tool kit. Having had a look at my

Some of the tools that were sourced from a budget store.

A freshly opened tin of Humbrol 33 acyrlic matt black.

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The paint was shaken and then stirred, making sure the pigment and binder were correctly mixed. Instead of the streaky blue paint we now have a perfect black.

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G

of the blue e now perfect

Humbrol’s 240 RLM 02 covered well in one brushed coat.

The instrument panel was painted matt black.

Various cockpit boxes were also picked out in black.

own workshop – the result of decades of modelling – I wondered how I could go back to basics and make something using the minimal of tools, all on a budget and build something that was within the grasp of a newcomer or inexperienced modeller, both in terms of skills and money. And an idea was born… My assignment was simple (or so I thought): I would make a model only tools and paints bought for the project. I would not be using anything from my regular toolkit. To this end I had to go shopping and assemble a basic toolkit in the same way as someone starting from scratch, so my first port of call was my local Poundland (other bargain shops are available) to see what I could bag.

depend on a model, I set about trying to find something that was well priced and easy to build. Zvezda’s new 1/72 snap-fit Ju 87B/R Stuka fit the bill. It’s designed to be made without glue, but unlike kits of this type from the past, it’s amazingly well detailed and holds up to a more conventional plastic kit. In fact, for an enthusiast wishing to use up some decal sheets or make a quick Sturzkampfgeschwader, it’s a great choice. Cost was around £8.00, a bargain! With a kit in hand I needed some paint and preferably something easy to use and nontoxic. I eventually settled on some Revell Aqua paints (39, 40 and 49) for the Stuka’s external colours, and some Humbrol acrylics for the (33 Matt Black and 240 RLM 02 Grau) for the interior. I also added a bottle of Humbrol Clear (£4.99) and a pot of Humbrol 49 acrylic Matt Varnish to the haul. Total cost of paints was just around £15.00 - total cost for all the tools and paints was £25.00, but these are items that are basic modelling investments that will be used over and over again, and pretty much

unavoidable. For a cutting surface I found a small A5 cutting matt for around £2 – a snip (literally) though any off-cut of wood or board could be used.

Tooling up for a job…

I’d need a knife of sorts and was able to buy two types, a Stanley-type for heavier cutting, and box of assorted handles and blades for finer work. While not quite up to the standards of X-Acto or Swann-Morton, they’d do the job. I also got a set of wet and dry papers, a pack of tweezers, some foam-backed nail files, plastic washing-up scourer and finally a pack of paintbrushes meant for nail decoration. Now when it comes to paintbrushes, I’m usually a strong advocate of buying the best you can afford, but this instance I thought I’d see what could be done with some budget ones especially as they offered some fine points for detail painting. A pack of cocktail sticks was also added to the mix simply because they are one of the most useful and essential things in any tool box for stirring paint etc... I also added a roll of masking tape, not only for any painting jobs but for holding parts together whilst gluing, should it be needed. The last purchase was a plastic tool box to keep this all in. Total cost? £10.00 - so far so good! For model glue I stuck (sic) with Humbrol liquid poly (£2.99) as this would most likely be available from a well stocked model shop or anyplace selling models. I also added a pack of Humbrol flat brushes (AG4302 – cost £6.99) to the budget as I have found these to be superb for painting large areas. What I didn’t have was paint, and as this would

Let’s Build!

First thing was to check that the kit wasn’t missing any pieces or parts were damaged – it may sound like second nature and is something Chris Ellis wrote about in length in his book, and yet social media sites still turn up posts from people who are halfway through a model only to discover that a vital piece is missing. With everything present and correct, I made a start on the interior using Humbrol 240 acrylic for this. It’s important to make sure the pot is well stirred (hence the cocktail sticks) and shaken before trying to use it other wise the result can be an oily, smeary mess of unmixed pigment and binder. Water soluble acrylic model paints tend to brush better if slightly thinned with water, so I used nothing

Using the heavy duty knife, the parts were carefully removed from the sprue.

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KIT BUILD

The cockpit detail on the Zvezda kit is excellent.

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Any remaining tags were removed with great care - work slowly and surely. The basic fuselage and wing halves assembled.

To get a finer grit, two sheets of wet-and-dry paper are rubbed together.

The wheels are cleaned up to eliminated the join.

more complicated than tap water in an old jam jar with a dash of washing-up liquid to break the surface tension. Plunging the brush into a pot so that it drags out great big gobs of paint is never a great idea. I emptied some paint onto an old jam jar lid and mixed it with a little water to get a creamy consistency. About half-a-brush load was then applied to surface making sure it was worked into the details without flooding them. With any kind of brush painting, practice is the key, to get a feel for how the paint and brush work together, especially the point when the brush begins to “drag” due to the paint starting to dry, which is when it can form ridges and brush-marks. The Humbrol paint covered superbly even on the first coat, in fact this was eye-opener for me and I’d happily brush paint this for interiors in future. I let the paint dry for around half-an-hour before applying a second coat, this time thinned a little more. One of the advantages of waterbased acrylics over enamels is a lack of solvent, so they dry fast and you can apply another coat

much sooner without it eating into the previous layer. I picked out the fuselage boxes and radio panels with Humbrol 33 Matt Black and one of the fine-pointed nail brushes. The latter was superb, holding it’s point and delivering paint precisely onto the fine details. In fact I was so impressed, I went out and bought some more for my own toolkit! With the interior done it was time remove the wing and fuselage parts from the sprues and clean them up. I used the heavier knife for this, making sure that the parts were held firmly while an even pressure was used to press down and slice through the attachment points. To Wet-and-dry was also used to good effect on the fuselage joins.

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remove the remaining sprue tag, I switched to one of knives with the finer blade. While its always preferable to cut away from yourself, with small parts more control can be had by gently and slowly cutting towards you, but care is the watchword here. Trim away the part bit by bit, get a feel for the technique but always – always - respect the knife blade. A dry run showed that the fit was so precise and tight that I brushed some glue over the joins and put the parts aside for an hour or so before adding the wings to fuselage – these just clicked into place - and again brushing some glue on the joins before leaving everything to set. It’s worth remembering that model “glue” is a bit of misnomer as it’s actually a solvent that works by melting and welding the plastic together, so as such it really needs a

good few hours (preferably overnight) to allow the process to run its course and for the plastic join to cure and harden off before sanding

True Grit

One of the things that improves the look of a model is eliminating the joins between parts like the fuselage halves and this can be done with any fine sanding tool, from foam backed sanding sticks to wet and dry paper. I used the latter and created a finer grit by rubbing two pieces together. Gently and carefully rub down the join lines, blowing away any dust and checking progress by holding the part up to the light and seeing if the join disappears. I used the Humbrol 240 acrylic to check for seams by brushing some along the join lines. Any remedial work was carried out, primed and checked again. This may seem like a

The model starts to go together, with the wheel spats just pushed in place with no glue.

laborious process but it is one of the key skills to master from the outset and after a while it becomes second nature. The wheels were cleaned up and added to the spats. A check was made to see how they fit to the wing – perfect! With the joins made good and model temporarily sitting on its undercarriage, this Stuka was starting to take shape. At this stage the quality of Zveda’s kit really shines through, looking little different from a standard injection moulded kit. With the smaller detail parts being cleaned up, the model was rapidly heading towards the next stage – painting.

blue was applied, and this time the coverage was excellent, drying to a smooth, solid coat. If you do find any brush marks on the surface, let them dry and then smooth them down with the plastic scourer before and another wellthinned of coat applied over the top. The first coat of the topside RLM 72 Dunkelgrun was added, using Revell 39. Being a slightly darker colour, coverage was much better than the pale blue, but The surface was cleaned up and keyed using some plastic scourer material similar to Scotchbrite.

Paint Your Sturzkampfflugzeug

As I was applying water-based acrylics to the base plastic, I needed to make sure the surface was as clean as possible, more so as I wouldn’t be able to cheat and use a spray can of primer! The plastic washing-up scourer (akin to Scotch-Brite) is great for cleaning smoothing down surfaces prior to paint. I used one wet, with a little water and detergent, to clean the surface and, once dry, another dry to give everything a polish and give the paint something to key into. For the undersides I used Revell Aqua 49 which is a match for RLM 65 Hellblau. I mixed the paint with a little of the water/detergent mix and applied it to the model using the larger Humbrol flat brush. The first coat wasn’t encouraging as, though it went down smooth, coverage wasn’t great – but this is where the old adage of two thin coats are better than holds true, because as tempting as it is to cover the plastic in one go, the result would be a thick heavy coat that looks like the model has been painted with household emulsion. After half an hour, a second coat of the Revell

still patchy and two coats were required to cover up the bare plastic. When it came to the demarcation with the undersides, I decided to mask it out using the DIY masking tape, cutting it to get a sharper edge and brushing along the fuselage but away from the masking tape to get a nice clean demarcation without too much paint building up on the tape which would create

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

A first coat of RLM 65 being applied using the Revell Aqua acrylics.

an unsightly ridge. It did OK, but in all honesty the best kind to invest in is Frogtape, it’s a little more pricey (around the £5 mark), it’s almost the same as the fine Tamiya-type tape except you get a lot more bang for your buck. For the RLM 70 splinter camouflage I did contemplate masking it out but, in the interests of keeping things simple, I decided to wing it and paint it all freehand, something I hadn’t done in over 40 years! Zvezda’s painting guide only shows the upper and port views, so I had to resort to references for the starboard pattern, carefully penciling in to pattern as a guide. For the other schemes – especially the desert one – Zvezda are vague to the point of no use. Thankfully Stuka camouflage patterns can be found online without any need for extra expense on books or magazines. Revell Aqua 40 was used for the RLM 70 Schwartzgrun, and this was thinned about 70/30 paint to water and brushed on using the medium sized Humbrol flat brush. With care (and practice) it’s possible to get a good straight edge without masking. I gave the model 24

Any brush marks can be carefully polished out using the scourer material.

hours to really settle down before the next stage – decals!

Putting A Gloss On Things

Waterslide decals need to go down on a smooth gloss finish for the best results. While the decals will technically stick to matt and semi-matt paint, the adhesion is impaired and the microscopically rough surface allows light to bounce back onto the varnish layer, creating the unwanted “silvering” effect. A smooth gloss finish stops the light bouncing and so not only do the decals adhere better, but the varnish becomes next to invisible. I used Humbrol’s Clear to gloss the surface up. I made sure the bottle was well shaken before use. It goes on almost like water so there is no need to thin it, and it self levels – but apply it sparingly, don’t flood the surface. I put it on using one of the wide flat Humbrol brushes - two coats were enough for the model to be glossy and ready for the decals. The Zvezda sheet was a mixed bag, being poorly printed and items like the badges seemed oversized. There was also stencil data not featured in

Two coats later and the undersides have a nice solid blue finish.

The demarcation was marked out using household masking tape.

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A first coat of the Revell RLM 71 was streaky…

…But a second coat produced a nice opaque finish.

the finishing diagrams, so I used the major markings and forgot the rest. On the plus side, their adhesion was excellent, so much so that I had to make sure the surface had plenty of water (with a dash of washing-up liquid) to enable me to slide and position them before they dried. Tweezers are an essential item for decaling as they enabled you more precision when sliding items off the backing paper onto the model. After allowing the model to dry out for a few hours, the final step was a couple of well-thinned coats of Humbrol 35 acrylic matt varnish, just enough to flatten the finish but still capture a slight sheen. Rather than buying a tin of gun metal for the exhausts, I painted them matt black and when dry, polished them with a soft 4B pencil to get a nice metallic effect, in fact that’s a technique I use all the time. The various detail parts were all added and the Stuka really started to come

to life, but it was missing that final part – the canopy.

Greenhouse Blues

Painting canopies can be tricky at the best of times and the Stuka doesn’t help with its extensive greenhouse – at this stage I was beginning to think that maybe a Stuka wasn’t the best choice given this was a project trying to use more basic skills! One alternative method would have been to paint some thin tape stripes and apply them – but it always tends to look like just that: painted strips. In the end I decided to handpaint the frames using of the fine Poundland brush, and the challenge did highlight a good cheat. The first few coats produced a semi-translucent effect, but as more colour went down, it started to become more opaque. This requires patience and a steady hand, but thankfully by using water-

based acrylics, any mistakes were easy to fix – where some paint occasionally strayed onto the glass areas, the cheat was to fix this using a toothpick dampened in some water. The soft wood of the toothpick was able to scrape the excess paint away without scratching the plastic, and also helped sharpen up the frame edges. The canopy took about an hour in total, excluding drying times. Once dry, it was popped into place and the model was finished – and on a budget!

Tailwind

I set out to see if a budget toolbox could be put together and a model successfully made using just the equipment a beginner could easily get assemble. The basic tools came to around £10, paint and glue added to that cost, but that’s a given and unavoidable. Far from being an expensive hobby, an exercise like this

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

The splinter camouflage was drawn on with a soft pencil.

Revell’s RLM 70 was then used to fill out the pattern.

Humbrol’s Clear provided a super glossy finished ready for decals.

The Zvezda decals went down well but were poorly printed and inaccurate.

The canopy was painted the hard way - each frame by hand!

Mistakes were easy to correct with a cocktail stick dampened in water.

A soft pencil was used to get a nice metallic effect on the exhausts.

reminded me just how cheap it is compared to other things (model railways anyone?). The knives did the job, the handles certainly seemed robust, though I felt that blade longevity may not be up to quality products like Swann-Morton or Xacto. The sheets of wet-and-dry paper were what I started out using four decades ago and they still get the job done. The Poundland nail brushes turned out to be a real revelation in terms of quality – and some months on they

are still holding their shape and are as good as new, even thought they’ve been used on a variety of paints included solvent-based enamels. Quite simply they are some of the finest (in every sense) paint brushes I’ve ever used. Ironically, I didn’t get around to using the nail files on this project, but I’d still include them as an essential to a toolkit as a matter of course. In fact Poundland (and other bargain stores) can be a treasure trove of stuff that can be used for modelling purposes.

About the only thing I would not do again would be hand-paint the splinter camouflage freehand. I went the simple route for this model, but there’s no doubt that masking gives a superior finish even if hand-painting. And I’d also be tempted to add some kind of acrylic retardant to the paint to slow down the drying time. But then this just shows the kind of learning process that modelling throws at you, no matter what your experience. ■

FINAL VERDICT The Zvezda kit ended up as a mixed bag – the plastic is superb and the model builds up with virtually no vices. The panel lines are very fine – perhaps too fine as they started to disappear under the thin coats of paint. Alas, the decals and finishing diagrams almost seem like an afterthought (especially the desert option), and it’s odd that Zvesda waste a full colour box with grey CAD images of the model and relegated something as important as the paint schemes to fuzzy and incomplete black and white images inside. But for all that there was something surprisingly cathartic about stepping back and building a model using the resources and skills available to someone who hasn’t been making models for 40 years. And whilst I love my Iwatas, Tamiya primers, Mr Surfacer etc… in many ways it did reconnect me to where I started out as a modeller. Sometimes, in order to know where you are going, to have to remember where you came from.

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MAI138 P45.indd 8

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

BUILT AND WRITTEN BY ALAN PRICE

SPECIFICATION:

ICM Junkers Ju88 A-5 WWII German Bomber Scale: 1:48 Kit No: 48232 Materials: IM Available From: Hannants Price Guide: £26.99

BEFORE STARTING:

● Humbrol Liquid Poly ● Tamiya Masking Tape ● Sprue Cutters ● Tweezers ● Swann Morton No3 Scalpel & 10A Blades ● Plasti-Zap Cyanoacrylate Glue ● Rocket Odourless Cyano Glue ● GSI Creos Mr. Cement S ● GSI Creos Mr. Surfacer 500 ● Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty ● Microscale Micro Set and Sol Decal Solution ● Microscale Micro Kristal Klear

PAINT USED:

Microscale Micro Gloss Microscale Micro Flat

THE MIG T

he Junkers Ju88 has long been a popular subject with modellers but for some reason it’s been somewhat overlooked in 1:48. In 1:72 we have the superb Revell kits plus the very nice Hasegawa range and in 1:32 we have the stunning Revell kit. The Dragon kit is the mainstay in 1:48, reboxed

under the Revell and Promodeller labels, this is not a bad kit (as we saw in my Battle of Britain build last year) and can be built into a very nice model. However it does have issues and detail wise it’s not up to modern standards. ICM’s announcement of an all-new Ju88 in this scale looked to be the answer to modeller’s prayers. Not only

Tamiya Color Acrylics X- 27 Clear Red X-25 Clear Green XF-1 Flat Black XF-64 Red Brown XF-69 NATO Black GSI Creos Mr Hobby H418 RLM78 Light Blue H417 RLM76 Light Blue H067 RLM65 Light Blue H070 RLM02 Gray H416 RLM66 Black Gray H064 RLM 75 Grey Humbrol: 33 Matt Black 34 Matt White 11 Silver 56 Aluminium Washes: Ammo of Mig Air Weathering Set 7414 German Early Fighters and Bombers

AIRBRUSH USED : Iwata HP-B Plus

ACCESSORIES USED:

AIMS SP48001 Ju88 A-5 update Set. AIMS Ju88 Early Birds Part 2 Decals 48D017 Eduard Ju88A-5 interior set FE750

REFERENCES:

Junkers Ju88 Volume Two – The Bomber at War, author William A. Medcalf, Classic Publications, ISBN 978 1 90653 743 2 Ju 88 Volume 1, Krzysztof Janowicz, Kagero Publishing, ISBN 978 83 89088 57 4 Junkers Ju88 Star of the Luftwaffe, author Manfred Griehl, Arms & Armour Press, ISBN 1-85409-043-7

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MIGHTY 88 We show you how to build an accurate replica from ICM’s 1:48 Junkers Ju88A-5

was this a modern, highly detailed kit but its initial boxing would be an A-5. Previously the A-5 could only be made using AIMS or MDC resin conversion sets. As one or two readers may remember I built the ICM Dornier 17 earlier this year and was singularly unimpressed with the kit. It had a number of inaccuracies and was not very easy

to build. In fact I concluded that in some ways the Classic Airframes kit was better. I was not therefore looking forward to this build. All this changed when I got the kit out of the box. The parts looked superb, lots of detail, excellent moulding quality, fine engraved panel lines, this had a lot of promise. Test fitting a few parts showed that things went together well, I was

now looking forward to building it. Instructions are provided in a large A4 booklet, well printed with clear diagrams. Decals also looked good, well printed with good density and little carrier film. I purchases a set of the new AIMS decals for early Ju88s (wanting to do a different colour scheme to that provided by the box decals)

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

The AIMS correction set consists of a new cockpit section, corrected radiators and new wingtips to allow an A-1 version to be built. A small photo etch sheet is also included.

The first stage is to cut up the lower fuselage to fit the new AIMS resin part. Not an easy job as it requires careful and accurate surgery to the kit parts.

Once fitted, the result is excellent as can be seen here. After a coat of Mr. Surfacer its not possible to tell there has been any modification from the outside.

The fuselage had quite a few sink marks to address and the upper seam needed a bit of filler too. This took its toll on the engraved detail and this all had to be repaired. The corrected raised resin floor can be seen inside the cockpit here too.

The cowlings are quite flimsy being very thin plastic, they needed carefully taping into shape as the glue set.

I decided to have one engine on show with them being so good and the starboard one was painted before closing the cowling up. The AIMS radiator can be seen attached to the front of the cowling.

and emailed John Mcillmurray who runs AIMS (http://www.aimsmodels.co.uk) to let him know I’d send him a few pictures for his website of the finished build. John got back to me almost straight away with some ominous words – ‘was I aware of the issues with the kit’? Err no….. John elaborated at length. I was not happy.

cockpit is wrong, the pilot and gunner sit on a raised platform and this is completely missing. The second issue concerns the engines, the radiators are wrong, missing the cut outs for the air intakes at the front. This gives them a strange look, totally wrong for this version. There were a number of other issues which were mostly easily correctable. John said he was working on a resin correction set and he offered to send me a set to use in the build.

Accepting his generous offer the kit was then sidelined for six weeks until John had completed his work and sent the set over to me. The AIMS set consists of a new floor to the cockpit complete with rear bulkhead, two new radiators and cowlings, two short wingtips (allowing the kit to be converted to an A-1) and a photo etch detail set. The resin parts were of good quality as you would expect from AIMS

Problem Build

There were two major issues. Firstly the

The kit provides engines for both nacelles and very nice representations of the Jumo 211 they are too.

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and needed little clean up allow them to fit. The build began with the cockpit – but not as we know it. I decided that given the new floor and surgery required, I would assemble the fuselage, fit the floor then build the rest of the kit before detailing the cockpit. With the huge open area of the cockpit this would be easy to detail from the outside. The first problem I encountered was the fit of the lifeboat cover into the fuselage. This fitted rather low leaving a recess in the upper fuselage. I trimmed the rebated edges from the cover and inserted it into the fuselage opening flush with the top deck. A piece of sprue was glued across it on the inside to provide a bit more support as the plastic was rather thin. Once the fuselage was assembled I set too with my Jeweller’s saw cutting up the nose in accordance with the

AIMS instructions. The resin cockpit floor fitted but seemed too low. A quick email to John revealed I had forgotten to trim off a mounting on the port sidewall of the kit parts. Removing this resulted in a much better fit. After a bit of filing and trimming the part was glued in place with Rocket non-bloom super glue. I then used good old super glue and talc as filler and after a good sand down a perfect join was achieved. I did have a few problems later though, as the fuselage sidewalls are quite thin, holding the model around the nose resulted in the seams cracking several times as the plastic flexed. This had to be repaired by running thin superglue into the crack. Once the fuselage construction was complete I addressed the remaining seams and re-scribed the panel lines where detail

In order to attach the AIMS radiators, rather drastic surgery was required to the engines. front of the cowlings was also cut away as the AIMS radiators include this.

had been lost. The wings were next attached, this should have been a dram-free stage but I created my own issues here. The fit of the wings was not too bad, a little filing of the ends of the wings was needed to improve the fit and they needed carefully taping up while the glue set to ensure the dihedral was correct. I decided to give the nose a coat of Mr. Surfacer to check all the joins. Whenever I do this I put the model under the studio lights to dry. Two 500w photofloods give off a lot of heat and dry Mr. Surfacer in no time at all. Now I’m sure you can all guess where this is going……Yes - the lights were too close. The smell of hot plastic alerted me to the fact that something was wrong. Fortunately the damage was limited to the underside of the port wing, inboard of the engine nacelle but damaged it was. The plastic

The undercarriage has to go in before the nacelles are glued in place. This is well detailed and very sturdy. Good locations points are provided for the undercarriage doors too though the forward points are a tight fit around the base of the undercarriage.

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had warped, most of which I fixed quickly while the plastic was still warm however it necessitated a heavy coat of super glue & talc filler, half an hour sanding and a re-scribe to fix the damage. With the main airframe complete I next had to build the engines and nacelles. ICM have provided two very nicely detailed Jumo 211 engines which build into the nacelles. I elected to have one of the cowlings open so the starboard engine and nacelle interior were painted, the port one left unpainted. As I was replacing the radiators, I had to cut off the front of the nacelle which carried the kit

radiator cowling. The engines also needed the front removing to allow the new radiator to fit in place. Due to the design of the nacelle, the interior bulkhead prevents a view of the truncated engine so my work on this was not in vain. The undercarriage had to be assembled now as it was not possible to fit it through the nacelle openings. ICM have made a great job of the undercarriage, it’s well detailed, fits together well and is very sturdy. I just did basic painting of this at this point as it was likely to get damaged during the rest of the build. The completed engines and nacelles were glued in place, fit was pretty good with just a little

Deluxe Perfect Putty being used to help blend things in. Once in place the radiators were then attached. The closed engine cowlings were all glued in place; these were a bit fiddly and needed a bit of fettling to get a decent fit. A lot of cleaning up came next. Several sanding and filling sessions were needed to complete things as I went over the nose seams, filled sink marks and fixed scribed details. Finally I was happy with the model and it was time to fit out the cockpit. This began with airbrushing the interior with GSI Creos H416 RLM66 Black Gray. I had the Eduard colour photo etch interior set and this was fitted over the next two evenings. This set does not come with seat belts however the AIMS set did. These were painted and applied to the assembled & painted seats. Fitting the completed seats in place revealed a problem. ICM had compensated for the lack of raised floor for the gunner by building up the seat mounting. While the front seat fitted fine, the rear was too high to fit inside the canopy. The lower part of the base had to be removed to allow the seat to fit. The control column seemed too tall when compared to photos so about 3mm was removed to get it looking right. After all the alterations to the seats, the early style rear canopy still didn’t clear the rear seat but the bulged later design was fine. This decided the markings for me, I intended

The completed cockpit looks great but what a lot of work to get to this point! Seat mounts are not perfect but these are ok without going to the trouble of scratch building new ones.

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to build one of the all-RLM65 blue examples on the AIMS decal sheet and one had the early canopy, the other the late style. With the final part now glued in place I felt confident it was time to close the nose up and move on to painting. The canopy was thus glued in place, the rear bulged sections proved a little tricky to align and they don’t sit down evenly at the rear, then the nose glazing was added. Masking was an easy job with the framing on the cockpit being quite prominent and after a coat of RLM66 was applied to the canopy framing, it was time to paint.

Any colour so long as it’s blue…

The chosen colour scheme was for a Ju88 based in the Mediterranean and painted overall RLM65 light blue. This aircraft, 4U+GK was based on Sicily probably at Catania. A colour photo of this aircraft appears on the back of Manfred Ghreil’s book ‘Junkers Ju88 Star of the Luftwaffe’. The notes on the AIMS decals suggest this aircraft had its upper surfaces painted RLM65 over the original RLM70/71 camouflage and as a result, the

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blue is slightly darker and the demarcation between upper and lower colours can be seen. Interestingly, this photo has appeared in other books in black and white and has been interpreted as the upper surfaces being in RLM79 Sand. The demarcation is evident on the photo so now I had to decide how to capture this. I began by giving the model a coat of Mr. Surfacer from an aerosol. This was cut back with 4000 grit micromesh and I then over painted the upper surfaces with a coat of Gunze Sangyo H069 RLM75 Dark Gray. A black preshade of all the panel lines was applied next. The build was then airbrushed overall in Gunze Sangyo H067 RLM65 Light Blue. The upper/lower camouflage demarcation line was then masked and the upper surfaces were given a light coat of Gunze Sangyo H418 RLM78 Light Blue. After removing the masking this gave the faintly visible demarcation line I was after. Using Gunze Sangyo H417 RLM76 light Blue next, a number of panels around the model were masked and over sprayed in this lighter blue. Others were just lightened

Cockpit finished and canopy in place at last. Even at this late stage I was still fixing defects, note the Mr. Surfacer ahead of the canopy. Perfect Putty proved ideal for blending the canopy and fuselage join.

The nose gondola was not a bad fit to the fuselage but the gap between the front and rear parts required a 0.5 mm plasticard shim to address the gap.

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Ready for paint. The glazing masked and the framing painted RLM66.

in the middle of the panel. This broke up the single colour adding more interesting faded, weathered look. Finally the white fuselage band was masked and sprayed. After a coat of Microscale Gloss varnish the model was ready for the decals. The kit decals were used for all Balkenkreuz as were some of the smaller stencil markings. The AIMS decals provided the specific markings for this aircraft. All the decals performed well however I did note that the ICM decals showed poor adhesion, a couple of times I needed to repair damage when a decal was simply caught by a finger when applying washes etc. After coat of Klear, It was time to apply a

pin wash and here I had trouble deciding what to use. Black would be too dark and the Flory Models Dark Dirt I felt was a bit light. I was going to mix the two together to make a darker grey then I remembered the Ammo of Mig set of washes I had in stock. I used this on one of the Battle of Britain builds and at the time felt it was a bit too light however I thought I’d give it another try and this time, using Ammo of Mig 1610 PLW Tan Grey, I have to say I was very happy with the result. The photo of this aircraft showed it looking very clean and tidy, in fact it’s possible it had just been repainted. I therefore kept weathering light adding exhaust stains with a thin dark grey mix then a bit of

A coat of Mr. Surfacer was used as a primer, I find this useful as with the build in all one colour, its much easier to see how good or bad it looks. I was very happy with how it had turned out after all the cutting, filling and sanding.

oil staining around the engines with some a thin mix of Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and XF-1 Black. The remaining parts had all bee prepared so on went the wheels, props and tail wheel. I then added all the aerials except the canopy one which would go on later to save damage, the Pitot tube and trailing aerial tube where replaced with brass tubing. The ‘clothes rack’ aerial under the fuselage was made up from plastic rod and elastic line as I’d removed the kit version to allow the seams to be cleaned up. A coat of Microscale Flat was then applied, and not without drama. For some reason, there were marks visible on the upper wings

The upper surfaces were given a coat of RLM 75 then a pre-shade applied overall to he panel lines.

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The RLM 65 Light Blue was applied next. Over this went the RLM78 Light Blue on the upper surfaces followed by selective shading of panels around the airframe.

Not much in the way of decals but enough to add interest. The effect of the shading can be seen here.

This close up of one wing shows the painting effects. The preshading has quite a good effect on this pale colour. Note the panels lightened over their entirety and some only lightened in the middle.

Almost finished. The final parts have been attached and the build is almost ready for its matt varnish. The Ammo of Mig tan coloured pin wash was very effective, I think a black wash would have been too strong on this model.

where I had wiped the paintwork down after the decals had been applied. Now I am very careful with cleaning up and use warm water with a drop of soap, carefully wiped over and dried off so I’m unsure why this happened, I’ve not seen this before. I had to overspray the wings with Klear which acted as a barrier. A second coat of matt varnish worked fine and there were no marks visible. The masking was removed, canopy aerial added and aerial lead and the build was complete.

Final Thoughts

This was quite a long build (not helped by having two other builds which I had to do in a rush while working on this) and at times quite

a testing build. ICM had the opportunity here to give modellers the Ju88 kit they have been wanting, something to rival what is available in 1:72 and 1:48. This, unfortunately, isn’t it. That is a great shame because if it wasn’t for the glaring errors this would have been that kit. Detail is good, fit is pretty good. The... Dragon kit has its own issues with the wings, average cockpit and undercarriage. Having built both I can say that there is little difference in them build wise and set next to each other, you would be hard pressed to say which was which. Overall I’d plump for the ICM one but for me – the errors have to be corrected so the AIMS set is a ‘must’. One well known modeller on the internet commented on my build that

he felt the interior was fine without correcting as you can’t see much in the cockpit. To some extent I agree but close up, the canopy is very clear and you can see. You have to ask yourself - could you live with the errors?

Not quite the end

After completing the model, I sent a few pictures to John Mcillmurray to use on the AIMS website. John emailed me back – ‘nice model but that was a reconnaissance unit so they wouldn’t have carried bombs”. So off came the bombs before I took the final photos. ■

FINAL VERDICT Thought not the easies of builds but ICM’s Ju88 has a lot to recommend it. Fit is pretty good overall and detail, especially the engines, is very good. Surface detail is excellent with fine panel lines and raised detail where appropriate. The errors in the cockpit and engines let it down. It’s still not the ultimate Ju88, but it’s a step on from the Dragon kit. What we really need is for Airfix to step in here and show how it should be done, a nice A-1 would be an excellent compliment to their existing and growing Battle of Britain fleet. The AIMS set provides those who cant live with the kit out-the-box (like me) with a good way of correcting the errors and at around £12, it’s a relatively inexpensive fix. Recommended – but with the AIMS set.

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SPECIFICATION:

Airfix 1:48 P-40B Warhawk Kit No: A05130 Materials: IM Available From: All Good Model Shops Price Guide: £20.99

BEFORE STARTING:

● Tamiya Extra Thin Cement ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Cement S ● Tamiya Masking Tape ● Xuron Cutters ● Tweezers ● Swann Morton No.10 Scalpel & 10A Blades ● Plasti-Zap Cyanoacrylate Glue - thin and medium viscosity ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Filler Primer ● Gunze Sangyo Mr White Putty, White Putty R ● RB Productions Rivet-R

WARHA A

irfix has expanded its range of 1:48 WWII aircraft with a neat kit of the famous Curtiss P-40B Warhawk. Moulded in pale grey plastic, this is the first of the new Airfix kits

to be both designed and manufactured in the UK, the quality of the plastic and the crispness of the parts appearing to have improved upon previous releases manufactured elsewhere. Though a small point, this another step in the

PAINTS USED:

Tamiya Acrylics X-18 Semi Gloss Black XF-1 Flat Black XF-2 Flat White XF-7 Flat Red XF-85 Rubber Black AS-12 ‘Bare Metal Silver’ X-19 Smoke Gunze Sangyo Mr Hobby Acrylics Light Aircraft Grey (H332) Interior Green (H58) Gunze Sangyo Super Metallics Super Stainless (SM04) Chrome Silver (SM06) Vallejo Acrylics - colours for detailing Winsor & Newton Oil colours Payne’s Grey Raw Umber

SOURCES

Gunze Sangyo - Albion Alloys, www.albionalloys.co.uk

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★

HAWK revitalisation of the Airfix brand and shows the steps that they are taking to ensure that each new kit is as good as they can make it. As a kit to build, this is about as straightforward as it gets. Airfix has resisted

The editor builds the brand-new Airfix P-40, painting it in a pseudo-prototype scheme along the way.

the temptation to embellish the contents with unnecessary flourishes, so you are presented with little more than 100 parts to build the aircraft in miniature. Overall, the shape of the aircraft has been

translated well, the only areas of seeming concern being the shape and size of the ventral keel. Discussions Online appear to have concluded that this areas is slightly undernourished and should therefore be

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Construction begins with the addition of the separate wing fillets. The fillets fit superbly in place, little more than a brush over with liquid glue being needed for perfect finish.

The floor and bulkheads await painting.

The cockpit side frames. There are some ejector pin marks on these parts that need to be dealt with - in this case using some squares of plasticard and slivers of round plastic rod. Different seats and mounting frames are supplied for the two options offered in the kit.

The instrument panel is neatly detailed, with rudder pedals moulded in situ. Decals are applied to the panel to complete the picture.

No seat straps are supplied in the kit so these were added from an Eduard aftermarket set.

A close-up of the frames. Detail is very fine and only really shows up under paint.

Some of the smaller details, assembled and painted ready for installation. These details were painted with Gunze Sangyo’s sensational Super Metallic - in this case, Super Stainless - to create a highly realistic finish.

The liners for the main gear bays are supplied in one piece to create not only the bay, but also act as a small spar that stiffens the wing to fuselage joint.

larger around its front end where it blends in with the fuselage around the undernose radiator flaps. Having read the discussions, I have a tendency to agree with this conclusion, though it made little difference to me personally, this part of the model being unseen under the completed model. If it does bother you, you could take some time to bulk out the keel with materials such as Lilliput, if not, leave well alone! Moving on, the detail is nicely rendered across the model, panel lines being sharp and well-defined, smaller features such as the cockpit

and undercarriage pleasing and the overall feel of authenticity, high. The cockpit is the first areas to examine, the delicately framed construction of the original being well-captured. Two versions of this aircraft are offered in the kit (P-40B Warhawk and Hawk 81-A-2) and so you have too different seats and their frames, along with different windscreens (one with mirror, one without). Examining the parts further, reveals some very delicate detail and it’s only when you apply paint that that detail really starts to pop. This was particularly

Before completing construction of the wings, the forward surfaces of the main wheel bays were spayed with Interior Green as suggested in the instructions and then masked with Tamiya Masking Tape.

In order to aid masking later own, the cockpit surround was airbrushed with Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal, decanted and thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner.

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Here’s that wheel bay liner in place… The cockpit parts, now fully assembled, have been basecoated in Gunze Sangyo Interior Green.

…And the look of the wheel bays once painted. As with the cockpit, the surrounding panels were first sprayed in Bare Metal before the liners were glued in place. The cockpit parts assembled and fully painted. Details were picked out in Vallejo acrylics, Black and London Grey being used to great effect. Note the appearance of those Eduard ‘Steel’ straps.

so with some of the smaller controls that are moulded as part of the cockpit frames, their embellishments beings so small, that these old eyes could not see them whilst in bare plastic! Across the kit there are a number of options that help create a model that has a more complex look. These include individual elevators and rudder, open or closed cockpit (made possible thanks to different hoods for the open of closed positions), the option of dropped or retracted undercarriage and finally, those seats and windscreens for the two versions supplied. Add to that list the fact that the kit also includes most of the parts that you’ll need to build a British aircraft — should you have the decals — and the value of this kit is there for all to see. Decals are supplied for two different P-40B Warhawks. The choices are as follows:

The side frames simply slip into place, a dab of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement being used to fix them permanently.

The cockpit fits perfectly in place within the fuselage.

● Curtiss P-40B Warhawk - flown by

From the box, the cockpit looks fine; add some painted details and those straps and it more than passes muster!

The airframe was assembled using both Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, Gunze Sangyo Mr Cement S, Tamiya Masking Tape and a peg and sprung tweezers. It looks like overkill but it works!

All internal pieces were held in place with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. Note in this shot the internal radiator details seen earlier.

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The model was basecoated with Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal and then panels masked and picked or with Gunze Super Metallic ‘Super Stainless’ and ‘Chrome’. The fabric control surfaces were painted with Super Stainless, dulled with Light Aircraft Grey.

2nd Lt. George Welch, 47th Pursuit Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group, Wheeler Field, Oahu, Hawaii, December 7th, 1941 ● Curtiss Hawk 81-A-2 - flown by Flight Leader Robert ‘R.T’ Smith, 3rd Squadron, Kunming, China, June 1942.

Happy that the finish was complete, the model was riveted using an RB Productions riveting tool. This was done very carefully over the surface of the paint to create a wonderfully subtle finish…

The decals are well-printed and the instructions comprehensively drawn to ensure that the modeller can create an accurate finish. I was particularly impressed by the inclusion of some tiny placards to decorate the interior of the cockpit and just how well the instrument decals fit the moulded instrument panel. All in all, very impressive! ■

…As can be seen here! Note the smooth finish, made possible thanks to the use of Tamiya’s AS-12 and Gunze Sangyo’s Super Metallics.

As I was going for an unarmed prototype, the openings for the guns were filled with plastic rod, superglue and filler. Once dealt with, the panels are filled with Mr White Putty and Mr Surfacer.

FINAL VERDICT The new Airfix 1:48 P-40 is a fine little kit that can be built by anyone, even those with very little experience of constructing plastic model kits. Detail is neat and tidy and other than that keel issue, the shapes and dimensions are more than acceptable. This was a fun project that offered a palette cleanser after the mammoth Harrier build. I like the kit and really like the completed model. It was cheap as well; at little over £20 it offers very good value for money. Cheap, fun and lovely once complete: what more could you ask from a kit?

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NEW FROM DOOLITTLE MEDIA

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P001 - WWII AIRCRAFT BOOK copy.indd 1

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

SPECIFICATION:

Eduard Lavochkin La-7 ProfiPack Kit No: EDK7066 Materials IM/PE Availability: Hannants or Eduard e:shop Price Guide: £16.30 (� 18.50)

BEFORE STARTING:

● Tamiya side cutters ●#3 and #4 scalpels with #11,#23, and#25 blades ● Deluxe Perfect Plastic filler ● Mr Hobby Cement S ● Revell Contacta Professional cement ● Loctite cyanoacrylate glue ● Boots the Chemist sanding boards ● Abralon 600, 1000 and 3000 grit foam abrasive ● Uschi van der Rosten elastic thread ● Tamiya 3 mm flexible vinyl tape

PAINTS USED:

Guns Sangyo Mr Hobby acrylic: H53 Neutral Grey H315 Grey (FS 36321) H331 Dark Sea Grey Vallejo: 77.703 Dark Aluminium Tamiya: XF-85 Rubber Black XF-23 Light Blue XF-7 Flat Red X-22 Clear Halfords aerosol Primer Citadel Purity Seal varnish

REFERENCES:

Lavochkin La-5/7. Airplane #175. Orbis Publishing 1993. ISBN 5 018132 761756 La-5/7 Fighters in Action. Hans-Heiri Stapfer. Squadron Signal. ISBN 978-0897473927

BUILT AND WRITTEN BY HUW MORGAN

WHITE 27 We build Eduard’s 1:72 Lavochkin La-7

L

ike several other Russian aircraft developed in the 1930's and 1940's, the story of the Lavochkin La-5 and La-7 series fighters reads like a Chekhov novel; - drama, deprivation, persecution, persistence, and terrible weather. In 1938, Semyon Alekseyvich Lavochkin was a struggling aircraft designer who was one of the pioneers of a new construction technique using birch veneer and phenolic resin adhesives (delta drevesiny or delta wood). Lavochkin had partnered with V.P. Gorbunov and M.I Gudkov to form LaGG OKB (experimental aircraft bureau) and after a number of false starts, had produced the LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 fighters, both notoriously

difficult to fly, under-gunned and underpowered with their VK-105 liquid-cooled engines. Even though more than 6,500 were produced, the poor performance of the LaGG (compared with contemporaries like Yakovlev's Yak 3) meant that in the highly-charged, despotic environment of the early years of WW2, Lavochkin was effectively banished and ostracised, being forced to retire to a hut on the outskirts of the GAZ-31 aircraft plant at Tiblisi where he tried to re-invent the LaGG-3 using a newly-qualified 14-cylinder radial engine, the Shvetsov M-82. Despite these privations, Lavochkin's engineering qualities survived and working closely with Shvetsov, he designed an engine installation which made the most of the

The Lavochkin La-5 & La-7. Aircraft Profile #149. Profile Publications Ltd 1967. LaGG and Lavochkin Aces of World War 2. George Mellinger. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #56. ISBN 1-84176-609-7

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1

2

3

4

1. The kit's decals offer markings for seven aircraft, all but one in the typical blue/grey scheme. 2. 54 plastic parts come on a single sprue. Moulding is reasonably sharp given the age of the moulds although some joint lines are a little rough. 3. The airframe's wooden construction means that there is limited surface detail although the fabric effect on the control surfaces is nicely restrained. 4. The photo etched sheet included in the ProfiPack kit is a worthwhile addition, and includes both early and late instrument panels, and spares of the smallest parts.

compact, powerful engine. The bulk of the LaGG airframe was largely unchanged: a wooden wing and tail with fabric-covered; metal framed control surfaces; a birch ply rear fuselage with a steel-tube, aluminium-panelled forward section; simple hydraulically-retracted undercarriage and a 3-bladed VISh-105V propeller. Armament was a rather skimpy pair of Shpital'ny-Vladimirov (ShVAK) 20 mm cannon in the upper cowling with 200 rounds per gun. Originally designated LaG-5, (since Gorbunov was still nominally involved) the first flight was delayed for several months due to bad weather but by March 1942 the aircraft was put up for official state testing alongside the Yak 7. Fortunately, the well-known fighter ace I. Ye. Fedorov took a liking to the aircraft and recommended it to Stalin, resulting in Lavochkin's reputation taking an immediate up-turn! By July, a priority directive was in place ordering maximum production of the (now) La-5, including excavating unfinished LaGG-3 airframes from the late snows for conversion. The La-5 continued to be developed for the the next couple of years, in particular with improvements in engine power and reliability and by October 1944 over 9,900 had been delivered, and its successor was already being built. The La-7 derivative was based heavily on the La-5, but with aerodynamic and

The tiny seat and instrument panel look very effective with the addition of the photo etched parts.

construction improvements. Externally, the biggest changes were the deletion of the distinctive upper cowl air intake duct, intakes being moved to the wing roots, and a new, low-profile oil radiator under the fuselage alongside the wing trailing edge. The new upper cowling meant that there was room for a third cannon, many later aircraft having three ShVAK weapons, although the original intent had been the fitting of lightweight Berezin B-20

cannon, which proved unreliable. Delivered to front line units first in the Spring of 1944, 5,753 La-7 were built and the aircraft went on to distinguish itself as unequivocally the best Russian fighter of the Great Patriotic War; in the right hands, easily a match for the legendary Fw-190 and late-model Bf109.

EDUARD'S KIT

Eduard's 1/72 scale kit of the La-7 has been

Here’s the cockpit built up, and awaiting the joining of the fuselage halves. The scratch built radio shelf can be seen behind the seat bulkhead. The side walls were dirtied up using AK Interactive Streaking Grime and white spirit.

The rather simplified side wall detail is dressed up with key components from the photo etched sheet.

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around since 2004 and has been re-issued in various guises several times, the kit being listed on Eduard's website and by the usual online traders. The ProfiPack edition built here is the usual Eduard fare: plastic for the main parts, a modest pre-coloured photo-etched fret, (not the same as the Zoom set) masks for the canopy, wheels and parts of the markings and decals for 7 individual aircraft, one of which is all green and the others in the classic blue and two greys, with red trim. Eduard's plastic is cleanly moulded, but the wooden construction of the airframe means that it's a bit featureless. The cockpit sidewall moulding is rather simplified in detail and there's a void behind the pilot's seat where the radio was usually fitted. Fit looks to be reasonable, but the moulds are showing their age in the fuselage joint line which is a bit ragged, and with sprue gates which intrude on the joints. The whole lot adds up to a modest total of 54 grey plastic, 6 clear and 31 photo etched parts (with some spares). Colour references are for Mr Hobby paints throughout. The options available allow either the two-gun or later three-gun versions to be built.

The upper surface of the assembled wing provides the cockpit floor, enhanced with photo etched rudder pedals.

The tiny undercarriage parts are enhanced with PE scissor links, and lead wire brake lines. Bare metal foil was used for the oleos.

CONSTRUCTION

Only modest amounts of filling is needed, - here shown by the white witness lines left by the DeLuxe Perfect Plastic putty. Here also the internal bracing of the cowling is visible.

With so few parts involved, the build sequence is not particularly critical, Eduard's typically high quality instructions starting with the enhancement of the cockpit side walls, floor, and seat with the pre-coloured and plain photo etched parts. To enhance the 3D effect, I added thin discs of plastic to the location points on the sidewalls, before attaching the PE. The painting instructions call for the interior to be painted Mr Hobby H51 (Light Gull Grey) which looked rather too pale to my eye, so I substituted H53 Neutral Grey instead. Eduard's typical sandwich construction of the instrument panel works well and I added the pierced top layers using PVA glue which dries to a clear gloss and simulates the instrument faces; for the less brave, there's a decal to apply over the plastic instrument panel, but frankly, Eduard's PE is so easy to use, why compromise? I painted the seat Vallejo Aluminium and Leather Brown to add variety and then scratchbuilt a shelf behind the seat to take some generic boxes to represent the radio. With the internals fitted, the fuselage halves can be closed up. I intended leaving off the front of the cowling to ease later painting, so given the small gluing area of the front seam, reinforced the joint with plastic strip backing and a scrap sprue brace so it didn't crack during sanding. Fuselage to wing and tailplane fit is reasonable, although careful alignment and some filling is needed at the trailing edge. The rudder is a separate part, so can be offset to add some dynamism. The radiator housing has a rather pointless etched rear face since absolutely nothing can be seen when its fitted. The clear parts provide the armoured glass behind the pilot's headrest, and the choice of open or closed sliding centre section. I wanted

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Most significant area where filling is needed is at the wing leading edge/fuselage joint.

Last part of masking was for the red nose, I chose to go for the alternative curved chevron to the rear. Tamiya vinyl masking tape is ideal for producing curves like this.

to use the latter, but failed in the end due to the part's thickness

PAINTING

My usual finishing technique for small scale aircraft involves spraying with Halfords automotive primer to highlight flaws, usually filled with superglue, which if sanded or scribed within an hour or so, has a hardness very similar to the base plastic (I try to avoid using accelerator, as this can make the glue brittle). The relatively few panel lines resulting from the wooden construction meant that the usual pre-shading techniques to emphasise joints would be redundant, so I limited myself to a few streaks of grey on the underside around the exhausts and the guns and some darkening of the fabric control surfaces to add texture. Under surfaces were sprayed with Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue, patchily, with random highlights with the base colour lightened with H51 Grey. I had chosen to model “White 27” flown by Maj. I. N. Kozhedub, 176th IAP, Germany 1945, - three times Hero of the Soviet Union. After masking the light blue, the noncamouflaged upper areas were dealt with; the tail was sprayed white and then the diagonal demarcation masked off, and the fuselage panels immediately behind the exhausts were

Blu Tack rolls and tape was used to mask the lighter grey of the camouflage.

sprayed with Vallejo acrylic Dark Aluminium (77.703). Mr Hobby 315 (Grey FS36321) was used for the lighter of the two greys, although on reflection, I'm not sure this is such a good match, - it looks like it ought to have more blue in it, undoubtedly the choice of stock colours will always represent a degree of compromise, but a specific paint set aimed at Russian aircraft might give a more “realistic” finish. Blu Tack sausages rolled out to 2-3 mm were used to define the masking for the H331 Dark Grey. For the area of the nose to be sprayed red (Tamiya XF-7) I nearly used the kit-supplied masks which provide for a straight-edged rear cowl trim, but was seduced by the alternative curved shape. This was masked using the excellent Tamiya vinyl tape filled in with standard yellow tape and a thin flash of white was applied as a base for the red. The spinner and prop blades were sprayed separately. With the masking removed and any touchups done, two light coats of heavily-thinned Tamiya X-22 Clear prepared the surface for decalling. Markings are undemanding (a total of 24!) and the Eduard decals performed without fuss using plain water to position them and MicroSol to bed them in, although given the smooth surfaces, the latter step could probably be missed out. With almost no panel lines to fiddle with, I did some gentle emphasising of the aileron

and slat lines using a drawing pencil and weathering was restricted to the application of some faint AK Interactive Streaking Grime stains, heavily diluted with white spirit, and dragged according to gravity or airflow using a flat brush, and some pastel chalk dirt from the slat and elevator hinges and wing roots. Gun residue stains were added using Mig Productions Smoke Black pastel.

SHORT FINALS

With the airframe complete and painted, the final bits can be added. The undercarriage legs were cleaned up, dressed up with PE scissor links, painted light grey and had lead wire brake lines added before fitting. (the Eduard P/E set includes rather unrealistic flat items which were ignored) The kit offers either onepiece wheels, or separate tyre/wheel options; I chose the latter to simplify painting, using Vallejo aluminium for the hubs, and Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black for the tyres, small flats being filed on the tyres to help with the sit. The radio mast was attached behind the canopy some Uschi van der Rosten elastic thread being used for the aerials and last to be fixed was the fragile pitot. Unfortunately, when it came time to fit the sliding part of the canopy, it was immediately apparent that there was no way it would fit correctly, its thickness meaning that it was perched rather inelegantly on top of the rear section. I reverted to fitting it closed! ■

FINAL VERDICT This is quite a nice kit of a subject deserving of attention given its impact on the air war in World War 2. Eduard’s photo-etched parts lift what is otherwise a rather ordinary plastic offering, albeit one which in 1/72 is difficult to mould with any panache given its featureless lines. There are no major issues in the build, although its certainly not in the class of Eduard’s recent 1/72 Revolution issues and needs a bit of attention to get the fit optimised. Definitely not shake and bake. Although Russian aircraft of the Great Patriotic War can look a bit uninteresting, I personally like the blue-grey finishes and the invariable splashes of red and white although I’d suggest caution in following Eduard’s colour suggestions. I’ll build some more. Thanks to Eduard for the review kit.

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

WOOD ’N’ BUILT AND WRITTEN BY FRANCISCO GUEDES

SPECIFICATION:

Albatros B. II Early Type Kit n.º 32046 Material: IM, PE. Available from specialist hobby shops or via WnW directly www.wingnutwings.com Price Guide: $129.00

BEFORE STARTING:

● Tamiya Extra thin cement ● Revell Professional contact ● Tamiya Masking Tape ● 3 mm masking taspe ● Tesa Tape ● Tweezers ● No. 11 Blade ● JLC razor saw ● Superglue ● Bob’s Buckles ● Albion Alloys brass micro tube ● EZ-Line ● Metal Polishing Powder – Uschi Van der Rosten. ● Micro Set and Sol. ● Daco Decal set – Strong and Medium ● Tamiya and Vallejo Varnish. ● Uschi Van der Rosten rich wood super fine decal sheet;

W

ingnut Wings (WnW), having been around since 2009, are still dealing cards like no other manufacturer within the WWI modelling arena. In

December of 2015 as a surprise release, WnW launched a brand new Albatros B.II Early Type’. As soon as I spied the news I decided I must have it. As soon as the box arrived it was off to the bench - yes, I was that excited by its arrival!

PAINTS USED: Drooling Bulldog Aluminum White Bleached Linen UnBleached Linen Pale Cream Yellow

Tamiya Acrylics X-2 White XF-15 Flat Flesh XF-18 Medium Blue XF-22 RLM Grey XF-60 Dark Yellow XF-67 NATO Green XF-76 IJN Grey Green Vallejo Brass Stencil Red white AMMO Black Ammo Rust Paint set.

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N’ WINGS But let’s walk before we can run; as with all other WnW kits, the one thing I’ve learned is to read and study the instructions more than once (I actually read and studied the instructions three times…) before you attempt construction. This is important because there

is a lot of information to take in and you really have to plan the project before committing to assembly and painting. After looking through the instructions I planned on building Albatros B.II 847/15. I choose this one because the wings were a

We take a detailed look at the building and painting of the Wingnut Wings 1:32 Albatros B. II ‘Early Type’ different colour from the tail and the wood used for the fuselage was a little lighter, making it a little more colourful than the other options. In the past, I’ve tried Drooling Bulldog paints and I really like them. So I contacted the company and they made me the three

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

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1. The fuselage is built up from individual panels that combine to create the sweeping lines of the original. 2. The fuselage has been painted and the decals applied - but we are getting ahead of ourselves…

colours that I needed for the wings and tail: Unbleached Linen, Bleach Linen and Pale Cream Yellow (now on sale on their site –http://www. droolingbulldog.com/). This model also supplies

something new for WnW: wood decals. The decals were in perfect register with some very good color and wood grain. These wood decals are quite different from Uschi being opaque and thicker. They have

advantages and disadvantages as we will see…

INTERIOR

I started with the cockpit by removing and cleaning all of the wood parts

3. …Before dealing with the construction of the fuselage we must build and paint the cockpit! 4. Detail inside the cockpit is superb. Wood decals are supplied to decorate the instrument panel.

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5. Ak Interactive and Mig Productions weathering products added weathering inside the cockpit. 6. The wood decals used inside the fuselage were toned-down with Mig Productions Wood Ageing Solution. 7 & 8. The engine was built from the box and then painted and weathered with acrylics. Note the asbestos wrap around the exhaust.

5

8

6

before removing the fuselage parts from the sprue ready to be prepared for painting. Before I get to the cockpit work, I would like to say something about the fuselage halves; if you look closely at the Albatros B.II ‘Early Type’, you can see the fuselage is neither round or exhibits rounded edges. For that reason, WnW came up with some cleaver but tricky engineering, to achieve that shape. So the fuselage is made in four parts which have thin and diagonal edges to fit with each other. The sprue attachment is on the thin edge so extra care and lots of soft sanding is necessary to get all the parts clean and ready to paint.

9

Back to the cockpit. The wood decal is very bright and I wanted to reduce the contrast between the cockpit interior and the fuselage sides. To reduce the brightness of the decal’s ink, I sprayed several thin layers of Tamiya Buff and Dark Yellow over the surface to blend the decal in and conform it to the rest of the interior. For the cockpit walls I was looking to reproduce some older and used wood as the Albatros was an airplane that could serve throughout the war, so it could have seen much more use than others and therefore revealed more intense weathering. This being so, I just looked at my

house door. I live near the sea, the door is five years old, and it looks somewhat worn, so I just thought, I want do similar wood to that one! As with the fuselage halves, I used Model Air Green Brown as a basecoat. After drying, I painted all of the parts with oils, Dark Brown and Shadow Brown mixed from Mig Productions and of course, my indispensable ‘Blitz Dry’ from Uschi Van der Rosten to help the oils dry more quickly. With ‘Blitz Dry’, one hour later, I scrubbed the individual pieces with a cotton bud in the same direction until the previous colour was seen, thus creating a neat wood grain. Next a wash of Wood Ageing solution from

10

Mig Productions was used on the base colour and edges. The wooden ribs on the fuselage were also painted with oils in order to keep them the same color as the cockpit walls. I painted the fuselage halves with Model Air Green Brown. Masking tape was then used to make templates for some new decals that I wanted to use to create a little variation over the surface of the model, these being made from WnW’s aftermarket sheets of wood decal. I placed the templates onto the wood decals and cut them out with a new No.11 scalpel. Before applying the decals, a gloss clear coat was applied. To aid the drying of the 9. The engine in place along with the stunning radiators. Note the appearance of the wood on the fuselage sides. 10. Before applying the wood decals the interior surfaces were painted with Model Air Green Brown.

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

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decals, I managed to steal the hairdryer from my wife! With that, several cotton buds and some warm water, I was ready for the WnW wood decals. They went on quite easily at this stage, however, I did have lots of work to settle the throttle and engine ignition switch wood decals from the kit in place (decal 83). Though pre-cut it is not easy to settle it onto the model as the surface does have lots of raised details. I managed to beat them by adding a bit of white glue to the warm water. As with the other decals, the use of a hairdryer and warm water mixed with white glue, I managed to get each onto the model successfully. To get them fully settled down, I took quite risk and soaked the decal with DACO’s Decal Set, strong solution (I tried first the small part of the wood decal on an old model) and the decal just laid down without damage. The same method was used for the instrument panel but this was a lot easier to apply. All of the cockpit details were painted with

Vallejo acrylics. I added a few wires within the cockpit to simulate switches as the kit does not have them, but does have several small holes, so the additions are quite straightforward. The interior rigging was added with EZ-Line before the seat was fixed in place. It’s quite easy with no problems whatsoever. As already said, I decided to build this kit straight from the box, so I used the PE seatbelts from the kit, annealing each part before use to make them more flexible. I use DB’s Unbleached Linen then a filter of Sand Yellow (Model Air 028) to paint the belts - Dark Wash and Earth Wash, from Mig Productions being used to define the detail. For the buckles, Vallejo Aluminium was used. I used acrylics from Vallejo and AMMO to paint the leather seats, using the former in several thin layers to allow each layer to blend together, lighter and darker shades being used until I was happy with the results.

The fuel tank was painted in a copper colour (Vallejo) . I simply add a few fuel stains that will not be seen at all unless close - but I know its there!

FUSELAGE

I moved on to the fuselage, leaving the engine until later on so that I could begin work on those wood decals. The kit decals are cookie-cut and opaque, so they are just ready to be applied. You need however to paint the fuselage and give it a full coat of gloss varnish. The decals, being pre-cut, fit accurately into place. I started under the fuselage and then worked up to allow each decal to be perfectly aligned, then I worked on the sides and the top. The secret to applying these decals is the warm water and hairdryer. And a cotton bud. Lots of water is needed to move the decal into the desire position. Once in position, press down with kitchen paper and remove most of the water. Then, use the hairdryer and cotton buds to

11. Wood decals being applied using masking tape templates to help measure their size and shape. 12. Oil paints were mixed with Uschi Van der Rosten ‘Blitz Dry’ to help then dry out quickly (within an hour). 13. The completely painted interior panels.

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14. The great thing about these kits are the number of different colours and textures that find their way onto the model!

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16 19

remove any remaining moisture and force the decal into place. Even with my efforts, some of the rivets were hidden by the decals, so each one was carefully defined again with a needle.

ENGINE AND COWLINGS

At this time the beautiful detailed DaimlerMercedes 120h D.II Engine was already built. I didn’t add any detail as I was planning to leave it with the cowling on. The only thing that I added was the asbestos cover on the intake pipes using Tamiya tape. I used several different brands of paint on the engine. It was primed it with AK Black Primer. A coat of DB Aluminium was applied,

18

then Gunze Stainless lacquer was used on the camshaft, before the intakes were painted with Model Master Copper. The small wires that I did add were painted with Vallejo Basalt Grey (869) Following the instructions, windscreen is the next in line. This piece is beautifully made and is crisp and clear. In order not to scratch it, I decided to paint the frame in aluminium, by hand. So Vallejo Aluminium and a good brush made it all possible. The side radiators are quite easy to assemble with a perfect fit. After painting them, I applied Dark Wash (Mig Productions) to create the illusion of depth. ■

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15. Small switches were added inside the cockpit using fine electrical wire. 16. The instrument panel decalled and painted, ready for installation. 17. The cockpit needs a little rigging here and that, accomplished in this case with Uschi Van der Rosten ‘Rig That Thing’ thread. 18. The two seats being painted and weathered. Note the seat straps. 19. The completely painted, decalled and weathered fuselage. Time for some details. 20. The metal parts were first sprayed with AK Black Primer and then a coat of DB Aluminium was applied. Subsequent washes would bring out the finer detail. 21. The fuselage awaits its engine and wings…

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NEXT MONTH… …We will complete the kit and show how it was painted and weathered. See you then!

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NEW RELEASES: DECALS

BARRACUDACALS www.barracudacals.com

Barracuda were welcome visitors to IPMS Scale ModelWorld and again this year bring a selection of their resin detail sets and recent decal releases. Here we have some samples:

MOSQUITO AIRFRAME STENCILS – EXPANDED (SHEET NO. BC72165) This sheet provides a comprehensive set of airframe stencils for one 1:72 scale Mosquito, any mark. As well as the external decals, there is an instrument panel and decals for the faces of the radio boxes. The small instructions show where the tiny items should be placed on your model.

SPITFIRE MK. VIII PART 1 (SHEET NO. BC72227) Two small sheets of decals are used to provide us with five different Mk. VIII Spitfires. The smaller sheet carries some of the national markings and the larger one has the individual aircraft markings and two useful sets of stencilling. A good set of instructions gives some brief background notes for each aircraft and clearly shows where to place the items on your model. ● Spitfire Mk. VIII, JF476 QJ-D with No. 92 Squadron, RAF when operating in Italy in 1943. This aircraft is in a scheme of a pattern of Mid-Stone and Dark Earth on the upper surfaces and Azure Blue undersides. This Mk. VIII is the only one of the five to have a rounded tail fin. ● Spitfire Mk. VIII, JF835 UM-T with No. 152 Squadron RAF operating in Burma in 1945. The scheme is a pattern of Dark Green and Dark Earth on the upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey undersides. All of the national marking are SEAC two-tone blue. ● Spitfire Mk. VIII, MT982 UM-C with No. 152 Squadron RAF operating in Burma in 1945. The scheme is a pattern of Dark Green and Dark Earth on the upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey undersides. Prominent white bands were carried on the wings and tail fin. ● Spitfire Mk. VIII, A58-517 UP-F with No. 79 Squadron RAAF flying in Indonesia in 1945. The camouflage pattern of Dark Green and Ocean Grey was carried on the upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey undersides. An elephant cartoon appeared on the fuselage just ahead of the windscreen. ● Spitfire Mk. VIII (serial unknown) HL-K with the 308th Fighter Squadron, 15th Air Force, USAAF in Italy in 1944. Artwork of a stagecoach appears on the lower nose. A camouflage pattern of Dark Earth and Mid-Stone over Azure Blue was applied to this Spitfire.

BF109G-6 & G-14 PART 1 (SHEET NO. BC32230) This set of decals consists of two full sized sheets and a small one carrying propeller spinner swirls. One of the large sheets is covered with German crosses and split swastikas and the main sheet carries the main markings for seven Messerschmitt 109s and sets of stencilling for two aircraft. ● Bf 109G-6 Black 10 with IV./JG54 at Dorpat in Russia in early 1944. The original standard pattern of RLM74/75/76 was covered using a random pattern of near white rectangles. Yellow areas around the fuselage, wing tips and under the nose complete the scheme. ● Bf 109G-6 Yellow 20 with 3./EKG(J) at Ansbach in Germany in March 1945. This 109 was surrendered to the allies near the end of the war in Europe. The scheme appears to be standard RLM74/75/76 with a heavy over-sprayed dark green pattern on the fuselage. ● Bf 109G-6 <<+- with II./JG11 in Germany in 1944. The standard RLM74/75/76 had been heavily over-sprayed with a rough pattern in light grey. A yellow band was applied around the rear fuselage and the lower engine panel was also painted yellow. ● Bf 109G-14 White 21 with IV./JG4 in the autumn of 1944. A standard pattern of RLM74/75/76 was applied with bold grey spots on the fuselage sides. ● Bf 109G-6 White Chevron with III./JG1 in Germany in 1943. The colours are RLM74/75/76 with a white tail fin. A fine pattern of dark grey was applied to the fuselage sides. ● Bf 109G-6 Yellow 6 with 9./JG3 in Normandy in July 1944. A pattern of RLM74/75/76 applied to this 109 too. ● Bf 109G-6 Blue 62 with JG 110 in Germany in early 1945. Another variation of RLM74/75/76 was applied to this aircraft with a yellow band around the rear fuselage.

MOSQUITO AIRFRAME STENCILS – EXPANDED (SHEET NO. BC24167) This sheet provides a comprehensive set of airframe stencils for one 1:24 scale Mosquito, any mark. As well as the external decals, there is an instrument panel, some sidewall placards and decals for the faces of the radio boxes. The instructions show clearly where all of the items belong. This is an ideal sheet to go with your big Airfix Mossie.

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MODEL ART www.modartdec.com

We have two new sheets from Model Art for review this month, both for builders in 1:72. The first is an unusual combination of a ‘hot jet’ operated by the French Navy and the other is sets of markings for rather more sedate Tiger Moths as used by Royal Navy units. The instructions notes are given in French and English.

F-8E(FN) CRUSADER AND D.H.82 TIGER MOTH (SHEET NO.72/065) ● F-8E(FN) ‘25’ with Flottille 14F in 1973. This Crusader still carried the old US Navy scheme of Light Gull Grey on the upper surfaces with White undersides and control surfaces. ● F-8E(FN) ‘4’ with Flottille 12F in 1985. The scheme was overall Light Gull Grey. ● F-8E(FN) ‘35’ on the Foch in 2000. This is a special scheme with a shark’s mouth and large colourful tail markings on overall Dark Blue Grey paintwork. ● F-8E(FN) ‘3’ also with special markings to commemorate the retirement of French Crusaders and the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. Sets of black and white stripes were applied to the wings and around the rear fuselage on an overall Dark Blue Grey scheme. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth T8191/E at the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1965. All of the RN Tiger Moths listed are finished in overall Silver dope with Dayglo panels supplied on the separate sheet and some have yellow panels where indicated. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth BB814/A also at the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1965. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth XL717 at the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1965. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth XL714 with the Station Flight at RNAS Yeovilton in 1967. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth XL714 with the Station Flight at RNAS Yeovilton in 1969. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth T8191/CU with the Station Flight at RNAS Culdrose in 1971. ● D.H.82 Tiger Moth T8191/VL with the Station Flight at RNAS Yeovilton in 1972.

FOUGA CM175 ZÉPHYR AND DE HAVILLAND VAMPIRE T.22 (SHEET NO. 72/066) This sheet provides the markings for eleven Fouga CM175s, better know to us as Magisters. They date from a Prototype in 1959 to two in special markings in 1993 and all appear to belong to the French Navy. The schemes vary here and there, all based on overall silver but with differing amounts of Dayglo. As well as the main markings, there are some stencilling items and spare Dayglo decal. One display team Magister is amongst the eleven options. The other naval trainer on this sheet is the Vampire T.22 when operated by the Fleet Air Arm, often as the station hack. The most recent one is 1966 but I can remember these Vampires still in use at Yeovilton and appearing at the International Air Tattoo several years after this date. All seven Vampires are finished in overall High Speed Silver apart from the Admiral’s Barge from Lee-onSolent in 1961. This Vampire was in an attractive scheme of Gloss Emerald Green on the upper surfaces with White undersides. See modelartdec.com for the latest news and availability

XTRADECAL www.hannants.co.uk

We have an interesting mix of new decals from Xtradecal this month with some interesting WWII subjects in all three main scales and a great set of Tornado specials in 1:48 scale.

FOCKE-WULF 190 STAB PT.1 (SHEET NO. X48170) All fifteen of the Fw 190s described above under X72261 are repeated on this sheet for 1:48 models. In doing so, the numbers of national markings are reduced to accommodate the larger individual aircraft markings.

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NEW RELEASES: DECALS FOCKE-WULF FW 190 STAB PT.1 (SHEET NO. X72261) Another one of Xtradecal’s very busy sheets with main decals and lots of tiny stencilling items for fifteen examples of the iconic German fighter. National marking sets are supplied too so that you can build several 190s from this single sheet. Judging by the markings, several of these Fw 190s were flown by squadron commanders. ● Fw 190 A-2 He-+- with Schlageter Stab./JG 26 as seen in France in 1942. A mottle of RLM74 and 75 blends into the RLM 76. The rudder and lower engine cowling are yellow. ● Fw 190 A-3
SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE MK.IX COLLECTION (SHEET NO. X72263)

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE MK.IX COLLECTION (SHEET NO. X48172)

This bumper sheet of Mk.IX Spitfires carries the markings for ten aircraft in a variety of colour schemes. As well as the individual aircraft markings, without counting every last one, it looks like there will be national markings for all ten. Where we refer to a standard scheme it is a pattern of Dark Green and Ocean Grey on the upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey undersides. ● Mk.IXc MA466 BQ-S with No. 451 (RCAF) Squadron in Corsica in 1944. The scheme is Medium Sea Grey on the top surfaces and PRU Blue undersides. ● Mk.IXc WD-M with the 4th Fighter Squadron USAAF in Corsica in 1944. A pattern of Dark Earth in Mid Stone was applied to the upper surfaces and Light Mediterranean Blue undersides. ● Mk.IXc VF-AA with the 5th Fighter Squadron USAAF in Corsica in 1944 wearing the standard camouflage scheme. ● Mk.IXc NH346 LK-M with No 87 Squadron RAF at Zeltweg in Austria in 1946. An upper surface pattern of Ocean Grey and Dark Green with Dark Mediterranean Blue under sides was the colour scheme. ● LF.Mk.IXe RK856 CA-G with No. 3 Squadron SAAF in Italy in 1945. This Spitfire was in the standard scheme with a set of Sky and Red narrow bands around the rear fuselage. ● Mk.IXb MK805 SH-B with No. 64 Squadron RAF at Harrowbeer in 1944. A standard colour scheme with D-Day stripes under the wings and rear fuselage applies. ● LF.Mk.IXc MJ738 KJ-R with No. 4 Squadron SAAF in Italy in 1944 in the standard scheme. ● Mk.IXb RK917 DB. This is Douglas Bader’s Spitfire in 1945 when he was the Essex Sector Group Commander. The standard scheme applied with a band of Sky around the rear fuselage. ● Mk.IXe MK304 Y2-K with No. 442 (RCAF) Squadron in France in 1944. This Spitfire had the pointed tail fin, was in the standard scheme with set of D-Day stripes on the wings and under the rear fuselage. ● Mk.IXc MK304 5J-L with No 126 Squadron at Upottery in Devon in 1944. At this time MK304 was in the standard scheme with a full set of D-Day stripes on the wings and around the rear fuselage.

Again, all ten sets of Mk.IX markings from the 1:72 sheet above have been shoe-horned onto the 1:48 sheet. Rather than multiple sets of national markings, we find one of each type. A small supplementary sheet carries the fuselage serials for CA-G and the large under-wing codes for NH346.

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FOCKE-WULF FW 190 STAB (SHEET NO. X32064) Despite moving the decals up to a much larger sized kit, Xtradecal still manage to accommodate six sets of markings from the 1:72 and 1:48 sheets. ● Fw 190 A-8/R6 -+- with Stab JG 26 in France in early 1944. This Fw 190 is in the standard scheme with a yellow rudder and lower engine cowling. The fuselage carries a medium mottle of RLM 74/75. ● Fw 190 A-9 -+ with I./JG 301 at Leck in Germany at the end of the war. A more unusual scheme of RLM 83 and 81 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 undersides are applied to this 190. Broad bands of red and yellow wrap around the rear fuselage. ● Fw 190 F-8 <+1 probably with Stab. I/SG 2 in Austria in 1945. This 190 is painted a mixture of colours with most of the upper surfaces in a pattern of RLM 77 and 83 and 76 undersides. The cowling ring and rudder is yellow. ● Fw 190 F-8 <3+ probably with Stab. I/SG 2 in Austria in 1945. The scheme is similar to the above but with a yellow band around the engine cowling and rudder. ● Fw 190 D-9 <11+ with I./JG 2 in a scheme of RLM 75, 83 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 undersides. A set of yellow and white bands were painted around the rear fuselage. ● Fw 190 D-9 <4+- with JG 300 in the Czech Republic in 1945. The scheme is two dark greens RLM 82 and 83 with much of the underside unpainted with some RLM 75 and 76 panels.

HAWKER TEMPEST MK.2/F.2 (SHEET NO. X32066) Three sets of markings for the Special Hobby 1:32 Tempest, spread over two full-sized sheets. ● Tempest F.2 PR533 5R-V with No. 33 Squadron RAF in Malaya in 1949-50. The finish is overall High Speed Silver with a Night Black anti-glare panel on the upper nose. ● Tempest Mk.2 NW798 HF-M with No. 54 Squadron at RAF Chilbolton in the summer of 1946. The scheme is a pattern of Ocean Grey and Dark Green on the upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey. ● Tempest F.2 A130 with No. 5 Squadron with the Pakistani Air Force in 1948. The scheme is a pattern of Dark Green and Mid Stone on the upper surfaces with Sky Blue undersides.

TORNADO SPECIAL SCHEMES (SHEET NO. X48171) This double sheet package catches up with more sets of RAF Special Tornados. One sheet carries the large special items and the second sheet is covered with a comprehensive set of stencilling items for one RAF Tornado, including those that appear on weapons and fuel tanks. ● Tornado GR.4 ZA461 with No. XV(R) Squadron at Lossiemouth in 2015. This Tornado is finished in overall Medium Sea Grey with a mainly Cherry Red tail fin and spine with the unit’s crest on the tail fin. ● Tornado GR.4 ZA456 with No. 9 Squadron at RAF Marham in 2015. Again, the overall colour is Medium Sea Grey. No. 9’s bat logo appears on a mainly black fin and spine. ● Tornado GR.4 ZG750 with No. XV(R) Squadron at Lossiemouth in 2016. Sadly this one did not appear at any of the shows I attended this year. This was something of a surprise scheme, remembering the first Gulf War desert scheme with a list of 25 years of Tornado operations on the rudder, starting with Operation Granby in 1990 down to Operation Shader in 2016. The finish is overall Desert Pink with a large shark’s mouth on the nose.

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Books

Samples for review

Please send all items for review to the following address: Model Airplane International, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX, United Kingdom. Companies in the European Union should also add our VAT number, which is GB 789 7020 84

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ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING ■ Danny Coremans and Peter Gordts ■ Published by Daco Publications ■ Guide Price £31.60 or 43.75 euros ■ ISBN: 978-90-8198-901-5 ■ 160pp softback, 240 x 212mm

VICKERS/BAC VC10 - 1962 TO 2013 (ALL MARKS AND MODELS) OWNERS’ WORKSHOP MANUAL ■ By Keith Wilson ■ Published by Haynes Publishing ■ Guide Price £22.00 ■ ISBN: 978-0-85733-799-3 ■ 196pp hardback, 280 x 215mm

t Scale ModelWorld 2015 we were given a tantalising glimpse of this superb book on the English Electric Lightning. At this year’s show a pile of copies were on sale for eager buyers. The finished Lightning book has been worth the wait. It is everything we modellers could ask for when looking for the fine detail of the iconic supersonic fighter. It was the sight of a Lightning scramble at an RAF Battle of Britain Day at Middleton St. George that threw my aviation hobby switch. The Lightning was always a popular ride with pilots but not quite so with ground crew. Lightnings were complex aircraft, awkward to work on in some respects, especially having one engine sitting on top of the other. Some of the photos in Daco’s book well illustrate my point. This book follows the pattern of previous profiles, working from the nose to the back of the aircraft, illustrating every area in fine detail. Each page can have anything up to six photos per page with the cockpit of both single seat and two seat Lightnings illustrated in fine detail. I remember being puzzled about where the undercarriage struts belong in the 1:48 Airfix kit. This book will save any head-scratching in any area of the build. Those who would like to produce a super-detailed build of a Lightning, with opened panels, etc. will find everything you could possibly need in this book. At the end of the book, we find sets of excellent photos of Lightning missiles and a twenty fourpage throw out with detailed cockpit layout diagrams and sets of plans in 1:48 and 1:72. This book is the must-have for any Lightning build. The quality of the photos and production is as good as it gets. The old but still excellent Airfix 1:48 Lightnings are still popular builds, appearing regularly on club tables and modelling forums. Should you be contemplating a Lightning build or just love the type, Daco’s new book comes highly recommended. Hannants, specialist modelling book traders will have copies or see dacoproducts.com or [email protected] for purchasing direct from Daco.

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n 2013, the RAF retired one of its longest serving and most iconic aircraft, the VC10. The skies around RAF Brize Norton have been much quieter since that day but most of us were sorry to see it move into history. RAF VC10s were always a welcome sight at air shows around the country. As with several other types, a successful airliner, the VC10 finished its flying career as a military aircraft after over 50 years of both civil and military service. The design with its four engines at the tail of the fuselage was a popular airliner being comfortable and quiet for the passengers. This layout would later lend itself to a flight refuelling role, leaving the wings clear for refuelling pods and helping those taking on fuel to keep clear of the jets’ exhausts. This latest Workshop Manual from Haynes follows the familiar pattern, covering the history of the VC10 with interesting copy and good photos of VC10 assembly and the first take off on 29th June 1962. The next chapters cover the inside of the

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hen the Polish Air Force sends a MiG-29 to an air show in the UK it will usually come from the Kosciuszko Squadron with the unit’s distinctive badge emblazoned on its upper fuselage. Firstly, the text explains the origins of the badge, designed by Lt. Elliot William Chess after he and a handful of other American pilots joined the squadron in 1919 to help the Polish fight the Russian communist forces. The distinctive badge was applied to Kosciuszko Squadron’s Hurricanes, Spitfires and Mustangs when the unit was flying as part of the Royal Air Force during WWII. The rest of the book consists of a comprehensive description of the MiG-29s of Kosciuszko Squadron flying with the unit today and the differences between the aircraft in the unit. Many of their MiGs carry portraits of past, distinguished members of the squadron on their inner tail fins. Around 200 photos, many published for the first time, show the various schemes currently in use. As well as the photos, we see many colour profiles and at the end of the book, there is a 4pp insert showing all of the airframe stencils on a typical MiG-29. This is another excellent addition to MMP’s aircraft titles, with modellers in mind, just the job for anyone building a MiG-29.

aircraft from the engineering, crew and passenger points of view. About half of the book is dedicated to VC10 operations with the Royal Air Force. We are shown how the airliners were converted, first for use as long range personnel transport and then for use as flying tankers. At the end of the book, we see some of the ‘What if’ possibilities of the airframe. Reports of flight crew and ground crew experience on the VC10 make interesting reading, illustrated with excellent photos and diagrams. The latter part of the book looks at the preserved VC10 airframes around the country. Two remain in live condition and can be see performing fast taxi runs at special events. The sight and sound of a VC10 coming up to full power is well worth a drive to see. Again, this Haynes Workshop Manual is an excellent addition to anyone’s aviation library. It is good to see that kit producers are taking an interest in the VC10. This book it ideal to have around whether to help with a kit build or just a good read on a dark winter’s night.

POLISH WINGS 21 MIG-29 ‘KOSCIUSZKO SQUADRON’ COMMEMORATIVE SCHEMES ■ By Robert Gretzyngier and Wojtek Matusiak, Illustrations by Marek Radomski ■ Published by Mushroom Model Publications ■ Guide Price £15.00 ■ ISBN 978-83-63678-64-7 ■ 80pp softback, 297 x 210mm

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RF-4E & F-4E PHANTOM II VOLUME 2 (PHANTOM UNDER THE SKIN)

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■ By Ioannis Lekkas & Ilian Gkonis ■ Published by Eagle Aviation ■ Guide Price £26.00 ■ ISBN: 978-618-81376-7-7 ■ 96pp softback, 222 x 240mm

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ere we have the eagerly awaited monograph on the Do 335, one of the most impressive aircraft in the WWII Luftwaffe’s inventory. Despite the fact that the Do 335 was used in only small numbers, the subject has been popular with kit manufacturers with kits in the three popular scales. The Do 335 was a large, sleek aircraft with a propeller at both ends of the fuselage, one engine pulling and one pushing. After only a handful of test flights, the prototype was attaining almost 400 mph in level flight. The Do 335 was the Luftwaffe’s fastest piston-engine aircraft during WWII. Richard A. Franks’ latest profile follows the familiar pattern with chapters covering the development of the aircraft, continuing into possible follow-on projects that would not progress further than drawings. About ten pages are devoted to camouflage and markings including six pages of colour profiles. One page shows three Do 335s in captured markings. At the end of the war, several were captured in serviceable condition and evaluated by the British, Americans and French. A chapter that will be of particular interest to those with a Do 335 kit on the shelf gives a set of full-build reviews of some of the kits available in 1:72, 1:48 and

f you would like to perfect your weathering techniques, look no further than a jet belonging to the Greek Air Force. A scan through the pages of this book will show you what I mean. Phantoms are very welcome and rare visitors these days to British air shows but visit RIAT regularly. There is a wide variety of finishes on Greek jets from clean and fresh to very weather-beaten. This is an ideal picture profile of the mighty Phantom for anyone building a kit. Greece has taken on Phantoms from several sources and for a while, they fly in the colours of the supplying air force. Phantoms in the old USAF South East Asia scheme fly alongside F-4s from Germany. Usefully, the authors provide Federal Standard/RAL colour references

1:32. Hopefully, this will stimulate some to produce models, as the Do 335 does not appear very often at shows on club tables. The ‘Build a Collection’ chapters shows in text and drawings the various sub-versions of 335, many just proposals but would make interesting conversions such as the twin fuselage Zwilling. Most of the rest of the book shows the Do 335 in detail. Sadly, only one complete airframe exists and that is in the States. Photos of this aircraft, technical drawings and a large number of archive photos show all aspects of the 335. Sets of cockpit photos are bound to be very useful to those tackling a build. Many of the photos are in colour. Finally, there are the familiar lists of kits, decals and accessories relating to the Do 335 and a fold out set of 1:48 Do 335 plans. This is another impressive reference work, aimed directly at modellers and will provide an invaluable companion to any build project. Valiant Wings have again produced an excellent aircraft profile, gathering information from many sources, saving us from many hours of searching. Even if you are not itching to build a kit, there is plenty to keep a Luftwaffe enthusiast interested and at a price less than that of a kit, is excellent value.

CONTINUATION WAR – THE WAR WITHIN A WAR – AIRFRAME EXTRA NO.6 ■ By Patrick Branly ■ Published by Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd ■ Guide Price £9.95 ■ ISBN 978-0-9935345-4-6 ■ 80pp softback, 297 x 210mm

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with the photos of the jets. As well as a good supply of pictures of the outside of Greece’s Phantoms much of the book looks in fine detail at areas such as cockpits and camera bays. Close ups of jet pipes, wheel wells, undercarriage, weapons and pylons are all useful to we modellers. Tucked inside the back cover is a large poster showing eight Greek Phantoms in various schemes that would look very fine on your workshop wall. Eagle Aviation is producing some very fine profiles that includes books on F-16s, Apaches and now two dedicated to the Phantom. In the UK you will find them at the Aviation Bookshop, Avid Reader and Aviationbookcentre.com, to mention but a few.

THE DORNIER DO 335 PFEIL – AIRFRAME & MINIATURE NO.9 ■ By Richard A. Franks ■ Published by Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd ■ Guide Price £18.95 ■ ISBN 978-0-9935345-5-3 ■ 144pp softback, 297 x 210mm

n opening this book, I was not sure what to expect but my knowledge was to be increased a little further as I admit to not have heard of the Continuation War. Also, the more I read about the Finns in WWII, the more I admire the tenacity of the small nation with a long border with the Russians. The Finnish Air Force was also an unusual organisation because of the number of different types from so many sources. They seemed to fly just about everything apart from Japanese aircraft during the war. During the conflict any Russian aircraft that came down in reasonable condition would be repaired and used by the Finnish Air Force. Modellers have a really varied set of options when looking at aircraft carrying the familiar blue swastika. The opening pages describe the action that Russia took against Finland in an attempt to land-grab on their North Western borders during the summer of 1941. Russia launched heavy artillery and air attacks against Finland, using the perpetual daylight

to aid their progress. This conflict continued until September 1944 when Russia, having the upper hand was able to make several demands on the Finnish Government in return for a ceasefire. This interesting story is followed by several pages of excellent colour profiles showing the amazing variety of aircraft operated by the Finnish Air Force. Next we have the familiar full-build reviews of several kits in Finnish or Russian markings. Most of these builds will keep the 1:72 builders happy with a Special Hobby Brewster in 1:32 and a build of the very ‘iffy’ Gavia 1:48 Lysander too. This is a very interesting and educational addition to the Airframe Extra series and contains plenty of inspiration for those looking for something out of the ordinary for a build project. Thanks to Valiant Wings for their two new books. They are available from Valiant Wings or any of the usual specialist suppliers mentioned above. (Alan Firbank)

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EVENTS DIARY Model shows for 2016

January 22nd 2017 IPMS Bolton Model Show at St Joseph’s RC High School, Chorley New Road, Horwich Bolton, BL6 6HW from 10:00. Trade Stands, Club Displays, Model Making Demonstrations, Refreshments, Disabled Access & Free Parking. Adults £4, OAP £3, Children (Under 16) £2 Families (2 adults and 2 children) £10. Contact Rob Monfea: [email protected]

February 11th 2017 The Tank Museum is pleased to announce the addition of a new model show to its events calendar – The Tank Museum Model Expo. View a large selection of exhibitors from across the modelling spectrum ranging from boats, planes, motor racing cars and of course militaria and armoured warfare

models. A number of Traders and stockists will be situated throughout the Museum. If you are inspired by the models on display, The Tank Museum’s own volunteer modelling association will be in attendance and will be on hand to give advice in creating your own miniature scale model. Get inspired and discover the hints and tricks behind making your own miniature. The general admission prices are – £14.00 per adult and £8.00 per child. Online discounts available. The ticket includes an annual membership to the museum which entitles the holder to return to the museum for free – this includes admission to our October show ‘Tank Mod’ which is taking place on Saturday 7th October 2017. Contact: Oliver Bitten on 01929 405096. Email: [email protected]

February 12th 2017 Huddersfield Model Show 2017 at Huddersfield Leisure Centre, Spring Grove Street Huddersfield, HD1 4BP from 10.30am ’til 4.30pm. Model displays, competition, trade stands, refreshments Admission £4.00 Concessions - £2.00. Please not the new opening times For further information please Contact: Geoff Milnes on 01132893132 or 07879446544 or Alan Paul on 07811358355.

February 26th 2017 North Devon Model Society Annual Show to be held at Fremington Parish Hall, 12 Higher Rd , Barnstaple, EX31 3BG United Kingdom from 10am-4pm. Entrance £3.00 adults children under 14 free over £1.50. Refreshments as usual. Free Paint & Take a figure.

See web site for detail updates www.northdevonmodelsociety.co.uk

March 18th 2017 Southern Expo 2017 to be held at the Hornchurch Sports Centre, Harrow Lodge Park Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, Essex RM11 1JU from 10am ’til 5pm. 10am to 5pm Saturday & 10am to 4pm Sunday. Entry: Adults £3.00, Children £1 & Senior Citizens £2. Open Competition (Sunday only) – the senior competition is being sponsored by Models For Sale www.modelsforsale.com Contact Peter Bagshaw on 01708 726 102. Email: [email protected]

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CONTACTS

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✉

Contact details for companies featured in MAI this month...

Azur/Frrom

Historie & Collections

MARK I Ltd.

Revell GmbH & Co., KG

**See Special Hobby Ltd**

5 avenue de la Ræpublique F-75541 Paris Cédex 11 Tel: 01 40 21 18 20 Fax: 01 47 00 51 11 www.historieetcollections.fr

PO Box 10, CZ-100 31 Prague 10 – Strasnice, Czech Republic Tel: +420-241 765 158 Fax: +420-241 765 158 Email: [email protected]

Abteilung X, Henschelstr 20-30, D-32257 Bünde, Germany

The Hobby Company Limited

Master Model

Garforth Place, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes MK5 8PH Tel: 01908 605 686 Fax: 01908 605 666 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] www.hobbyco.net

71-126 Szczecin, ul. 26 Kwietnia 49/44, Poland Tel: +48 0 503 072 624 Email: [email protected] www.master-model.pl

Albion Alloys 518 Wallisdown Rd, Bournemouth, Dorset BH11 8PT www.albionhobbies.com Tel. 0044 1202 511232 Fax. 0044 1202 539967

Creative Models Ltd Unit 6/10, Honeysome Road Industrial Estate, Honeysome Road, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire PE16 6TG Tel: +44 (0)1354 760022 Fax: +44 (0)1354 760037 Email: [email protected] www.creativemodels.co.uk

Eduard M.A., 170 Obrnice, Obrnice, 435 21, Czech Republic Tel: 420 35 6 11 81 86 Fax: 420 35 6 11 81 71 Email: [email protected]

Hannants Harbour Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 3LZ Tel: 01502 517444 Fax: 01502 500521 www.hannants.co.uk

Hasegawa Corporation, 3-1-2 Yagusu Yaizu, Shizuoka 425-8711, Japan Tel: 81 54 6 28 82 41 Fax: 81 54 6 27 80 46

Mushroom Model Publications

Borispolskaya 9, Building 64, Kiev 02099, Ukraine Tel/Fax: (+380 44) 369 54 12 Email: [email protected]

3 Gloucester Close, Petersfield, Hants. GU32 3AX Tel: +44 (1)1730 265014 Email: [email protected] www.mmpbooks.biz

Italeri S.p.A

Pocketbond Ltd.

Via Pradazzo 6/B, I-40012 Calderara di Reno, (Bologna), Italy Tel: +39 051 72 60 37 Fax: +39 051 72 64 59 Email: [email protected]

POCKETBOND Bachmann Europe PLC Moat Way Barwell Leics LE9 8EY Tel 01455 841756 [email protected]

ICM Holding

Lela Presse S.A.R.L. 29, rue Paul Bert, 62230 Outreau, France. Tel: 03 21 33 88 96 Fax: 03 21 32 00 39 www.avions-bateaux.com. Email: [email protected].

Special Hobby Ltd Mezilesi 718, Prague 9 193 00, Czech Republic www.cmkkits.com

Wydawnictwo Stratus s.c. PO Box 123, 27-600 Sandomierz 1, Poland Tel: 0-15 833 30 41 Email: [email protected] www.stratusbooks.com.pl

Trumpeter Wa San Development (Macau) Ltd Rampa Dos Cavleiros No.9, Block 5, Floor 16, Flat AS EDF, Jardim Sun Yick Garden, Macaua China www.trumpeter.com

Wingnut Wings Ltd PO Box 15-319, Miramar, Wellington 6022, New Zealand www.wingnutwings.com

Revell GmbH Unit 10, Old Airfield Industrial Estate, Cheddington Lane, Tring HP23 4QR Tel: 0845-459-0747 Fax: 01296-660041 Email: [email protected] www.revell.de/en

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KIT KRAZY MODEL SHOP

Tel: 020 8298 7177

303 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, Kent DA6 8DT NEW AND PRE-OWNED KITS, COLLECTIONS BOUGHT AND SOLD. OVER 20 MAJOR BRANDS OF ARMOUR KITS IN PLASTIC AND RESIN, BOTH CURRENT AND OOP - 70P S.A.E FOR OUR LIST

Opening hours: 9-30am-5.30pm (Open Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday) You can also find us at most major model and airshows throughout the year

www.kitkrazy.com

Up to 20% Discount on mail order

HANNANTS MODEL SHOP Tel: 0208 205 6697 Fax: 01502 500521 Unit 2, Hurricane Trading Estate, Grahame Park Way, Colindale, NW9 5QW

OPEN 10.00AM - 5.30PM, THURS & FRI OPEN UNTIL 7.00PM NO1 IN EUROPE FOR PLASTIC KITS AND ACCESSORIES INCLUDING THE FULL RANGE OF TAMIYA (NOT RC)

email: [email protected]

1/2 MILE FROM RAF MUSEUM

www.hannants.co.uk

MASTERCARD/VISA/SWITCH

AVID READER

Tel: 01299 823 330 Fax:01299 829 970

Unit 10, Hodfar Road, Sandy lane Ind Estate, Stourport On Severn, Worcestershire, DY13 9QB

MILITARY, AVIATION, NAVAL, MODELLING, RAILWAYS, CAR & MOTORCYCLE BOOKS 9.30 – 4.30 MONDAY TO FRIDAY BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

WWW.BOOKWORLDWS.CO.UK

[email protected]

AVIATION & MILITARY BOOK CENTRE Tel: 0845 260 4413 PO Box 10159 COALVILLE. LEICS LE67 1WB

AVIATION AND MILITARY BOOKS AND MAGAZINES PHONE LINES OPEN 10AM-6PM MON-FRI, 10AM-1PM SAT-SUN PHONE, WRITE OR VISIT US ONLINE. [email protected] www.aviationbookcentre.com

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EagleCals, EagleParts, Library of Eagles and more

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SHOWTIME 100 Zoukei-Mura has released the first of a family of Phantoms in 1:48, the famous F-4J. Drewe Manton sharpens his scalpel blades to bring you a full appraisal.

BEAUFIGHTER

We take a detailed look at the new Airfix 1:72 kit of the TF.X variant, including a step-by-step guide to construction, painting and weathering.

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FINAL THOUGHTS KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE!

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ver the last year or so, I’ve seen some negativity appearing Online, negativity that in my mind is utterly unnecessary. Modelling is supposed to be fun, an arena where you can forget the rest of the world for a while, a make-believe playground where you are in control. It’s not a place for those that seek to tell you what to do, how to think and ultimately, behave in a demeaning and destructive way. When I think of what I do - and this was driven home this week as I worked on my friend Ian’s Lysander - I’m not the hotshot professional that writes for a magazine, I’m the ten-year-old boy sitting in his bedroom with a small desk, tube glue, blunt knife and half a dozen dried up paints. But you know what? None of that mattered - I loved every second of it. I dreamed that one day I would be able to build models as well as those I saw at shows, in magazines, in catalogues. And I still do. And that’s what I want to be experienced by

everyone else: the magic of those first steps to completing your first model. That instant you think, wow, that was fun! So when I read negative comments, I think of all of those other modellers working on their own, trying their best and being hamstrung by negativity not of their own making, asking themselves if what they are doing is right, should they really use this or that technique, or whether a kit is worthy of their time. I’m reminded of my own models, the time I’ve spent on them, alone, wondering if they are as good as I would like them to be. Writing this may do nothing to quell the tide of silliness that sometimes hits our shores every now and then, but it just might offer an insight into my mindset and why I feel so strongly about this wonderful, diverse and ultimately magical world that we all hide within and why I want to keep the dream alive! Cheers. Now where’s that Lysander..? ■

82 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - January 2017

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B-52

STRATOFORTRESS

B-52 Stratofortress (1378) The B-52G played a crucial role in ‘Operation Desert Storm’, flying from air-bases in Britain, Spain and the Indian Ocean to free Kuwait of Saddam Hussein’s forces, dropping the first bombs of Operation Desert Storm. Italeri’s B-52G kit is a very large production! It comes moulded in grey polystyrene and the big airframe features engraved panel lines and lots of detail on the airframe and inside the cockpit. Air Launched Cruise Missiles are provided for the Gulf War version, as well as four markings options; 1708th BW, King Abdul Aziz AB, Jeddah Saudi Arabia, March 1991, 801st BW, Morón AB, Spain, February 1991, 4300th BW, Diego Garcia AFB, January 1991 and 379th BW, Wurtsmith SAC AFB, Michigan, USA, 1977.

TORNADO Tornado GR.1 Gulf War 25th Anniversary (1384) To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War, Italeri have released a special edition of the Tornado GR.1 in 1:72. The model comes with a decal sheet that provides markings for four Royal Air Force aircraft, all in the overall sand colour used on these machines during ‘Operation Desert Storm’

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in 1991. All the schemes feature colourful and varied nose-art that give such strong individuality. The injection-moulding polystyrene parts feature fine detail, capturing the aggressive look of this multirole combat machine. Underwing munitions and drop-tanks are provided in the box.

08/11/2016 14:57