2017-05 (142)

ALL THE INFORMATION YOU’LL EVER NEED

TO CREATE THE BEST AIRCRAFT MODELS

E E FR

6 NEW BUILDS INSIDE HARRIER

T F GI

MADE FOR TWO WE COMPLETE OUR MAMMOTH 1:24 T.2 CONVERSION…

May 2017

S IBER BSCIRNSIDE U S FOR TAILS DE

£4.50 / Issue 142

www.modelairplaneinternational.com

JET PROVOST

IT’S SHOWTIME!

SIMPLE DETAILS IMPROVE THE DELIGHTFUL 1:72 AIRFIX KIT

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS YEAR’S SOUTH CHESHIRE MILITAIRE

KIT BUILD

COMPARE

CONTRAST WE BUILD THE AMK AND HOBBYBOSS MIG-31 FOXHOUNDS

KIT BUILD

DESERT WARHAWK GET THE BEST FROM HASEGAWA’S 1:48 P-40K

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9 771747 504052

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Make room for the next generation

www.italeri.com

F-35A® Lightning II® N° 2506 1:32

model kit modèle réduit

scale èchelle

Super Decals Sheet for 6 versions

At last, the 1:32 model of F-35A in its final release, in a dimension that enhance details and design

Decal Sheet

Photo-Etched Fret included

Sticker mask sheet (to help you in painting relief details)

Ask your local distributor or contact: Italeri S.p.A.- via Pradazzo, 6/b 40012 - Calderara di Reno - Bologna - Italy - Phone +39 051 31 75 211 - email: [email protected]

How to contact us:

Contents

Tel: Fax:

VOLUME 12. ISSUE 142. MAY 2017

VOL.12 ISS.142 MAY 2017

01525 222573 01525 222574

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

Editorial:

Editor:

P04 - IN THIS ISSUE P06 - NEWSLINE P08 - COMMENT P78 - EVENTS DIARY P79 - CONTACTS DETAILS P81 - NEXT ISSUE P82 - FINAL THOUGHTS…

We take a look at RP Toolz very impressive Punch & Die sets.

P26 IN DETAIL

Art:

We take a look at the Jet provost, it’s colour schemes and finer features.

Editorial Design: Advertising Design:

The first half of a special head to head, sees us look at the Hobby Boss 1:48 MiG-31…

P68 NEW RELEASES KITS

P42 FOXHOUND - PART 2

P70 NEW RELEASES BOOKS

Some of the latest aviation books assessed

P74 NEW RELEASES DECALS The latest decal releases assessed

FEATURES P10 A HARRIER MADE FOR TWO

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

Distribution:

…Before we dive into AMK’s much-vaunted offering.

Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT. Tel: 020 7429 4000

P54 IT’S SHOWTIME!

Newstrade:

Highlights from this year’s South Cheshire Militaire

Select Publisher Services, 3 East Avenue, Bournemouth, BH3 7BW. Tel: 01202 586848 E-mail: [email protected]

P58 DESERT WARHAWK

Jason Brewer builds Hasegawa’s delightful 1:48 -40K, painting it in the wonderfully attractive colours of the 64th Fighter Squadron whilst operating in North Africa during WWII.

Subscriptions:

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

P66 VASSILY’S ILLYUSHA

Bob Edwards builds Zvezda’s 1:72 IL-2 Stormovik

ay

Subscribe SEE PAG E

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day Subsc

76

To

r i b e To d

The editor completes his conversion of the Airfix 1:24 Harrier Gr.1 into the T.2 trainer.

Peter Hutchinson Peter Hutchinson & Alex Hall

Advertisement and circulation:

P32 FOXHOUND - PART 1

REVIEWS What will you be building in the months to come?

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

P16 WORKSHOP

rib

REGULARS

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

e To d a y S

Model Airplane International is published monthly by Doolittle Media, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX. Entire Contents © 2017 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 IN THIS

ISSUE… Written by Spencer Pollard

Hello everyone, welcome to the May 2017 edition of your favourite aviation modelling magazine!

T

his month we once again have much to enjoy, with models from across the spectrum of aviation modelling; from fast jets to WWII fighters we have it all…Almost! This month we have decided to offer our readers the chance to see not one, but two, MiG31 kits in 1:48. Following the release of AMK’s much-vaunted kit, HobbyBoss elected to to tackle the same aircraft in the same scale, so rather than spread the two builds over two issues, we thought it would be fun to show them off back to back. That way, you can decide which kit is for you should this aircraft be something that your collection is crying out for! Alan Price and Mike Williams are both in the hot-seats this month, their features beginning on page 30. I’m somewhat notorious for my love of 1:72, so it will be no surprise to see the Airfix Jet Provost cross my desk. Having been a staple part of the range for decades, it was interesting to see how the latest of Airfix’ retools would look and how well it would replicate this delightful aircraft in miniature. Well, the answers to all of those questions — along with some specially prepared full-sized shots — can be seen in our new feature that begins on page 18. Not all kits have to be new to be interesting and that’s certainly something that is proven in our excellent build of Hasegawa’s P-40K Warhawk. Penned by the very talented Jason Brewer, this in-depth feature reveals how you can get the best from this 1:48 kit, dealing with constructional issues and then finishing it in a highly attractive paint scheme along the way. The fun starts on page 56. Finally, we see the return of our ‘Kwik Builds’ as Bob Edwards takes a look at the Zvezda 1:72 Il-2. Capturing the look of this most pugnacious of attack aircraft, Zvezda’s kit builds into a very neat replica and along the way, is suited to the beginners amongst us, as well as those looking for a neat starting point for additional detail. Check out Bob’s thoughts, beginning on page 64. So this is the May edition of Model Airplane International. I hope you enjoy this issue and I hope to see you again next month! ■

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Newsline DOOLITTLE MEDIA

doolittlemedia.com

HOW TO BUILD THE AIRFIX 1:24 TYPHOON MK.IB - REVISED SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE! The complete guide to building the amazing Airfix 1:24 scale Hawker Typhoon, written by Brett Green of HyperScale and Model Military fame. This new book features an exhaustive step-by-step guide to construction with modelling contributions by James Hatch, Brett, Marcus Nicholls and Chris Wauchop. Detailed analysis of the 1:72 Airfix Typhoon and 1:48 scale kits on the market is also included. Hundreds of construction photos, reference images, a museum walk around, and how to get the very best from your big Typhoon kit a must have before you build the model! Available now from the Doolittle Media Website.Price: £14.95

F-22 RAPTOR IN ACTION

The single-seat, twin-engine Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is the world’s first operational fifthgeneration fighter. ‘Fifth-Generation’ denotes a new plateau in fighter design, surpassing the F-15 and Mig-29 capabilities. This volume traces the history of the Raptor and describes in detail why it is likely to be the world’s best fighter for years to come. While the Raptor was designed for air superiority, it also embodies ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence features. After years in planning and development, the US Air Force announced plans to purchase over 600 F-22 Raptors in 1991. Cutbacks in 1993 reduced the number to 442. With the onset of the Obama Administration, Raptor production was capped at 187 units. As challenges to US global leadership mount, however, the Raptor’s capabilities will face increasing demand. Illustrated with 169 photographs plus color profiles and detailed line drawings; 56 pages. Available now from the Doolittle Media Website. Price: £11.99.

AIRFIX

AMODEL

MITSUBISHI A6M2B ZERO NOW AVAILABLE IN 1:72

MARTIN MARS INBOUND…

www.airfix.com

When the Japanese Zero first entered service in 1940, it was without doubt the most advanced naval fighter in the world and quickly earned a reputation as a ruthless dogfighter. In early engagements, the Zero proved so effective that pilots were able to post an almost unbelievable victory ratio of 12 to 1 against their adversaries. Possessing exceptional manoeuvrability, the Zero quickly earned a reputation as a dogfighter and Allied pilots quickly learned to avoid a slow, turning fight with this beautifully balanced aircraft. As the fighter aircraft to beat in the Pacific, American pilots soon developed tactics that avoided playing into the hands of the Zero and began to score victories. As newer fighters began to enter service, the A6M Zero began to show its weaknesses, which were a lack of armour protection for the pilot and no self-sealing fuel tanks in the wing. Using their ‘boom and zoom’ hit and run tactics, the Americans finally began to get the measure of the feared Zero.

Well-know as creators of huge model kits of equally huge aircraft, Amodel have released details of their forthcoming Martin Mars family. According to online sources, two kits will be released, the Martin JRM-1 Marshall Mars (A Model A-72038) and then water-bombing Martin JRM-3 Hawaian Mars (A Model A-72040). Both models are expected to be released during June of 2017

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COMMENT IS MORE ACTUALLY LESS? Written by Jonathan Mock

T

he summer of 1985 and I had just left school and was gearing up to start art college in the autumn. It was an unusually hot summer for Great Britain - in that it actually was hot and dry - and I’d had a bout of insomnia so I’d be at my workbench well

“

into the small hours listening to the BBC World Service on a decrepit radio where the long wave signal phased in and out. One night still sticks out. I was making the Matchbox 1/76 LRDG Chevrolet/Jeep set and ‘A Love Like Blood’ by Killing Joke drifted through the radio like some analog ghost finding

We must play our lives like soldiers in the field…

”

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a brief connection to the real world before fading away back in the ether again. Both the kit and the song have remained interconnected ever since and whether I hear or see either, I get that pang of nostalgia, probably more to do with the misplaced notions many have of chasing our lost youth. One thing it did bring into sharp focus were the resources I had back then. Money was always tight in our household so it was a case of making do and my toolkit consisted of a Stanley knife with a couple of spare blades, a few files, three paint brushes and about a dozen tins of Humbrol. It was a meagre assortment, but each item felt precious simply because their acquisition itself was an achievement, reminding me somewhat now of what Charles Dickens wrote of Bob Cratchit’s family display of glass in A Christmas Carol (“Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done…”). Back then I could only dream of having a well stocked custom-made workshop with every tool, paint and brush I could desire, let alone owning - whisper it - an airbrush. And yet here I am on a rather splendid sunny spring day sat in my workshop looking out over the Somerset hills, ‘A Love Like Blood’ has just filled the room in glorious crystal-clear stereo via Bluetooth speakers and I am surrounded by all the kit - and kits - I could ever have dreamt of. Rather like Dickens, were I able to be my own ghost and visit my past self with visions of the future, I think the 18 year old long haired me would have slept more soundly seeing his dream fulfilled, let alone be marvelled by the health of the hobby in 2017, even if he might be rather alarmed at where all the hair went. But as much as I love that I am surrounded by a workshop I have worked very hard to create and stock over the years, I can’t help but feel I’ve lost something and part of me envies the me of 1985 and the simplicity I was forced to accommodate through circumstance. Experimenting with my limited supply of paints forced me to be imaginative, creative but also gave a great sense of accomplishment. Picking up a ready-made wash isn’t quite the same as mixing black and brown paint with gloss varnish. Likewise, having access to 50 shades of olive drab (E. L. James unsuccessful first pitch…) doesn’t have the same sense of adventure as just a single pot of Humbrol and creating custom shades. That paucity of materials increased my learning and problem solving skills, something I mentioned in a previous editorial, because I was being forced to deal with things rather than chucking it away or

hammering a keyboard in ire - I had a lot invested in a model, even if it was £1.99 in 1985 money! The hobby certainly has changed since 1985 with the proliferation of paints, pigments, washes, filters etc… and, far from being a luddite trying to cling to the past, I’m a sucker for buying and trying new stuff to try out, even if it’s only once and whilst I do like to kick back and marvel at rows upon rows of paint and products, part of me knows that I’ve barely used a fraction of them and it’s probably more about getting a kick from the ostentatiousness of it all than the practicality and actual usage - certainly those tins of Humbrol in 1985 got used and often used up! So is more, more, or is it actually less? Truth be told, I could probably reduced my workshop gear down to about a third of its present level and in doing that back-to-basics Stuka model a few issues ago, there was a certain buzz in having a stripped back tool kit. But there were also a lot of things that I did miss in writing that article, which have only become staples in my workshop over the last decade or so, especially my skinny sanding sticks, my Vallejo Model Color acrylics and my Iwata air brushes. Prog rockers Marillion once wrote a song (‘Wrapped up in Time’) about memories being like stars, that if we traced those points of light back to their origins, many may be long extinct. And as much as I like to wistfully think about those long hot summer nights and that little radio with it’s ghostly signals, that’s long gone now. If I envy that 1985 me, it’s mostly a rose tinted caricature of the past that flickers like a long dead star whose living light is still reaching us. About the only concession to reliving the past these days is being able to get those kits that eluded me in my youth, but even there it’s not about trying to repeat an experience, just grasping opportunities that were not available back then and I’m able to do a better job (hopefully!) now than I ever would have been able to do in the past, partly because of having some better tools and resources, but mostly the decades of experience accrued, which is something you can’t buy off the shelf. When I think of the paucity of new releases in the mid 1980s, the era we’re living in now would have seem like and impossible Valhalla when one considers the editorials in magazines that predicted doom and gloom and whether scale modelling would even survive another decade. And yet here we are in the midst of a new golden age where new releases come thick and fast. The past is great, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Besides, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be... ■

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BUILT AND WRITTEN BY SPENCER POLLARD

A HARRIER MADE F This month we reveal the completed model and its features in detail.

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E FOR TWO

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ver the last four or five months I’ve explained in detail how I took the old Airfix Harrier GR.1/3 and with some old fashioned ideas, cutting-edge technology, time and no little swearing, turned it into a T.2. You’ve seen the conversion in detail. The mistakes that I made. The details that were added, found to be inaccurate, torn out and then rebuilt until correct. It has been easily the most difficult, time-consuming model that I’ve ever attempted. So upon completion I could sit back, relax and decide never to try anything so silly, again! This is one of those almost once-in-a-lifetime projects that modellers attempt, to test their skills and try and create something that’s unique. Well, this model certainly tested my skills; it’s not quite unique in that there are at least another four of these conversions out there, but it is unique in how I completed mine, the way I approached the build and the set-up of the model and how ultimately, it was painted and weathered. Now that it is complete I have to say how proud I am of this Harrier model. When I set out almost a year ago to build the model, I

had no idea of how it would be completed. Converting kits had been something that I’d tried over the years, but nothing as complex as this. Knowing that so much of the original kit would essentially be thrown away and then rebuilt lead to an almost entirely new way of looking at the completion of models. I used materials that I had never used, techniques that needed to be learned from the ground up and then had to ask for help and guidance from almost an entire team of experts that came together to make the project one that went from pipe dream, to reality. Over the next few pages you will find detailed images of the completed model. But before you hopefully enjoy looking at them, I would like to thank those that helped me out with my Harrier T.2: Nick Greenall, Dave Fleming, Tim Perry, Haris Ali, Mal Mayfield, David Haggas and last but by no means least, my wonderful wife Liz, who put up with me disappearing for almost six months during the building of the model and never once was anything but utterly supportive, through to the end. I thank you all! This then, finally, is my Harrier T.2 - I hope that you enjoy one last look.

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S

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29/03/2017 16:12

WORKSHOp WE TAKE A LOOK AT RP TOOLZ IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF PUNCH & DIE SETS Written by Spencer Pollard

A

t some point in your modelling career (if you see what I mean!), you will probably decide to add extra detail to a kit, or dabble in a little scratch building, either in terms of small sections, or an entire model. So what if you need to add tiny switches, dial, rivets, nuts, bolts or other fine details? Well, you just might need to invest in a ‘Punch & Die Set’ such as that seen here. Manufactured by RP Toolz (http://rptoolz.unas.hu/en/), the two sets dealt with here allow both circular disks and hexagonal shapes to be created with ease. Covering 0.5 - 2 mm in the circular set and 0.7 - 2 mm in the hexagonal, the two boxes will cover most eventualities encountered by the enthusiastic model builder. As can be seen in the enclosed images, both of these sets are superb in terms of quality and design, from the metal and perspex die plates, through to the

aluminium and steel punches, the clever labelling of each item and the annotation of each piece that ensures nothing is mixed up, the quality shines through. Machining is exemplary and that means that in concert, the punches that pass through into the die plate, cut plasticard perfectly, no matter what size is used, no matter what shape, each and every time. Away from the obvious, I was also pleased to see clever touches such as the threaded screws that tighten the upper and lower plates together once the card is inserted. Older designs have not featured such things so the various constituent parts can sometimes move causing ragged edges to form on the cut pieces - not so here: the precision of the tooling and the way that everything is held together reduce the chance of movement to almost zero, so everything remains sharp and precise. ■

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Further Information

If you would like to see these tools in use, please check out my YouTube channel where you will find a short video showing these useful tools in action. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tiCKUS5GKeM

FINAL VERDICT

These are superb tools that will be a very useful addition to the workshops of those that wish to develop their skills beyond simple construction. As mentioned in the video link that accompanies this short review, they are not cut-price, but that is offset by exceptional examples of quality and design and that simply forces me to recommend both and to thank RP Toolz for letting me take a look at them for this review.

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE

SPECIFICATION:

Airfix 1:72 Jet Provost T.3/T.3A Kit No: AX02103 Materials: IM Available From: All Good Model Shops Price Guide: £9.99

BEFORE STARTING:

● Tamiya Extra Thin Cement ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Cement S ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Masking Sol R ● 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 ● Mr Color Thinner ● Rivet-R riveting tool ● Gunze Sangyo Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black

PAINTS USED: Tamiya Acrylics XF-63 German Grey XF-85 Rubber Black X-22 Clear X-27 Clear Red X-25 Clear Green

Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color C331 Dark Sea Grey C332 Light Aircraft Grey C330 Dark Green Vallejo Acrylics - colours for detailing and matt varnish

ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Eduard Jet Provost T.3/T.3a 1:72 - SS566 Jet Provost T.3/T.3a 1:72 - 73566 Jet Provost T.3/T.3a 1:72 - CX463

SOURCES

Gunze Sangyo - Albion Alloys, www. albionalloys.co.uk Eduard - www.eduard.com Rivet-R riveting tool - www.radubstore.com

Tools of the trade for a successful build: kit and decals!

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A JET BUILT AND WRITTEN BY SPENCER POLLARD

PROVOST We build Airfix’ delightful model kit of Hunting Percival’s equally splendid, jet trainer

T

he BAC Jet Provost was a British jet-powered trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1993. It was originally developed by Hunting Percival from the earlier piston engine-powered Percival Provost basic trainer, and later produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). In addition to the multiple orders that were placed for the RAF, the Jet Provost also attained several export deals with overseas operators, resulting in the type serving in many air forces worldwide. The design was also further developed into a more heavily-armed variant for ground attack mission, which was marketed as the BAC Strikemaster. The Jet Provost proved to be a capable trainer. After successful acceptance trials of the T.1 during late 1955 at No. 2 Flying Training School at RAF Hullavington, the RAF formally accepted the type in 1957. The first production version was the T.3, powered by the Viper 102, and this entered service with No. 2 FTS, now relocated to RAF Syerston during June 1959 when deliveries commenced from the Hunting Aircraft factory at Luton airport. The T.3 was also operated by Central Flying School at RAF Little Rissington, the Royal Air Force College at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, and by No. 1 Flying Training School at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire, 3FTS at RAF Leeming, Yorkshire, 6FTS at RAF Acklington, Northumberland and 7FTS at RAF Church Fenton, Yorkshire. The later T.4 was fitted with the more powerful Viper A.S.V. 11 of 2,500 lbs static thrust and first flew on 15 July 1960. It quickly entered service with the units listed above. (Wikipedia)

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE

The cockpit was improved with the use of an Eduard interior set. Though neat from the box, the use of these pre-painted parts adds a high level of finesse within the completed model.

The basic kit cockpit and parts from Eduard’s full update set, this time allowing parts to detail the exterior of the airframe.

Rather than simply use etched parts to detail the cockpit, some traditional techniques were brought into play to add features using rod, strip and plasticard.

The kit seats, detailed with Eduard straps. Tiny doesn’t even come close!

The two seats in place within the cockpit. The interior was painted with Tamiya Rubber Black, highlighted with German Grey and then, following a wash with Humbrol matt black enamel, the details were highlighted with a drybrushed layer of Vallejo London Grey.

With the Eduard panels in place, smaller details were picked out with various Vallejo primary colours. Note the pull handles fixed to the seats’ head-boxes.

The Jet Provost is a notorious tailsitter so with the cockpit glued in place, the surrounding areas were filled with Ripmax ballast weight mixed with epoxy resin.

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In Miniature

Despite having had a kit of the Jet Provost in their range for decades now, Airfix decided to add this aircraft to their roster of new tools the result being a delightful little kit that more than captures the attractive lines of this most pleasing of jet trainers. Moulded in light grey plastic, the kit is marketed as a ‘Jet Provost T.3’, but can just as easily be adapted to build the latest T.4, all changes being mainly internal. Detail is pleasing and in-scale and the breakdown and fit of the parts, simple and refined. A quick check-over of the contents of the box revealed that this kit would be almost perfect for the beginner, the simplicity of the design and the clever method of construction needing little more than careful removal of the parts from the runners and then the application of glue and paint. Care does need to be taken with the small parts, but nothing that a little time and patience would not deal with. Beginners most definitely need apply! Digging deeper into the box you will find some impressive levels of detail, the surface panels being particularly pleasing. I took things one step further with a riveting job that added these fine features to the surface of the airframe with an RB Productions ‘Rivet-R’ along with fasters around the wing root and intakes with a beading tool. This was a straightforward task, needing little more than time and a steady hand to create a nicely busy surface. With that done, I could admire the neat cockpit with multi-part seats. The seats offer seat straps moulded in-situ, along with inner wall detail, decal instrument panel and other controls. In order to bulk out what was provided, the cockpit for the review build was further embellished with an Eduard cockpit set that supplied the instrument panel, rudder pedals, seat details and comprehensive, pre-painted straps, the latter needing the moulded straps to be very carefully removed before use of their etched replacements. Though this aspect of the build elevates the work needed into the intermediate/ advanced category, it might be something that modellers keen to stretch their skills might want to have a go at. There are some odd omissions and mistakes in the kit. The first is the lack of a jet pipe; though the kit supplies a separate part for the fairing that sits under the tailplane, there is nothing to go inside so the modeller will need to create a simple tube to fill the hole. The intakes, though small are similarly empty, no trunking being supplied. And finally, the designer has misunderstood the structure

JET PROVOST.indd 5

The tip tanks’ navigation lights are moulded solid in the kit, so each was removed to replaced with clear parts. Here the lights have been chopped away with a new No.10A scalpel blade.

Though the surface detail is neat and tidy, rivets were added freehand using an RB Productions ‘Rivet-R’.

Along with the riveting, fasters were added using the beading tool seen here.

Fasteners were aded around the wing roots, intakes and inspection panels.

The removed tip-tank lights were replaced by sections of clear runner, chopped pieces being superglued in place and then set permanently using accelerator.

Once dry, the shape of the lights was restored with sanding sticks before being polished using the Micromesh system.

And here’s the result of the corrective surgery around the front end of the tip tanks - a simple, but worthwhile improvement! Once the model was painted and decalled these would be painted clear red (port) and green (Starboard).

To further improve the look of the model and create a more candid appearance, the flaps were removed ready to be repositioned in their drooped position.

Test-fitting the major parts revealed no areas that would give cause for concern.

The wings and tailplanes fit perfectly, virtually no filling being needed to create a smooth finish.

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KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE

With the cockpit in place, the small details that were added become apparent to the onlooker.

The canopies feature a lengthwise rail on the outside of the glazing that should not be there. That being so, the surrounding plastic was masked and then the errant detail removed with a curved scalpel blade before polishing the part back to full clarity.

of the sliding canopy section, the lengthwise upper strut being moulded as part of the outer framing when in fact that part of the glazing should be on the inside of the glass. This is most certainly something that also needs to be dealt with, the framing needing to be removed and then the strut painted on the inside of the canopy - fiddly, but worthwhile if realism is to be ensured. Across the board fit is very good indeed, only the intakes needing to be blended-in with a drop of Mr. Surfacer and then a couple of small gaps around the lower wing and fuselage having to be tidied up. Being such a small model, care really needs to be taken to ensure that the shapes flow and so I would recommend spending time ensuring that all seams are smoothed over and then primed ready for painting - especially when the finish is in one the lighter colours offered in the kit. Along with the plastic parts the kit includes a full set of detailed assembly instructions, along with a painting guide and then decals for two individual aircraft. The choices are as follows:

The model is now fully assembled and the seams checked over with a layer of Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black.

The Finishing Surfacer was also used under the model before sanding everything smooth with increasingly fine sanding sticks.

● XM413/24 2 FTS, RAF Gaydon 1967 ● XM461/11, 1 FTS RAF Linton-On-Ouse, North Yorkshire 1984

Happy that the joints were sanded smooth they were primed with Tamiya German Grey and then the canopy masked with Tamiya masking tape and a small cube of packing sponge.

The first task was to airbrush the undersides of the model with Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color Light Aircraft Grey thinned with Mr. Color Leveling thinner.

The model is now ready to be painted! Note that the clear tip tank lights have been masked with Mr. Masking Sol R from Gunze Sangyo.

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The canopies were masked with Eduard’s canopy masking set.

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Before airbrushing the upper surfaces, these two vents were added with small sections of Evergreen plastic strip.

The first round of a considerable amount of masking saw the undersides protected with Tamiya masking tape. Here I made a mistake, the leading edges of the wings not exhibiting the correct degree of wraparound, the error being corrected later on in the build.

The model has been completely masked in this shot - almost two hours of work, for one minute of airbrushing!

The upper surfaces were airbrushed with Mr. Color Dark Sea Grey and then left to dry before masking off the camouflage with Blue Tack sausages and Tamiya Masking tape.

With the masking removed the true appearance of our little model becomes apparent.

With most of the world’s Jet Provosts appearing in bright colours, the chance to do something somber was a chance not to be missed!

Decalling underway. For this build Xtradecal’s ‘Hunting Jet Provost T.3/T.4/ T.51/T.52’ sheet was used to create a model of T.4, XR639 from 79(R) Squadron, TWU, RAF Brawdy during 1984. Though the Xtradecal sheet offers the necessary unit markings, it relies on the kit decals for stencils, a number of which are quite different on the camouflage aircraft, so the kit build is something of a compromise in this regard.

The underside of the model showing the large serial numbers in place.

The use of a gloss finish and DACO’s Strong setting solution ensured that the decals settled down perfectly before being overrated with a layer of Tamiya X-22 Clear and then Vallejo acrylic matt varnish.

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The yellow aerials pop against their drab surroundings. Note the drilled nose lights, glazed here with Kristal Klear.

KIT BUILD

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE

With the model finished, the smaller details such as these aerials, were fixed in place. Once dry, each was painted in their distinctive gloss yellow colour. The drooped flaps add a nice additional feature around the back of the model, as does the addition of a second, red, navigation light on top of the rear fuselage.

Further blade aerials were fixed under the wings, fine Evergreen strip being used for this task.

The decals are a really comprehensive part of the kit, full unit insignia being offered along with numerous stencilling items and large sections of the distinctive day-glo trim carried by the real aircraft.

Despite the inclusion of two attractive schemes in the kit, a personal decision drove the desire to complete the model as a TWU aircraft from RAF Brawdy. As such, decals from the Xtradecals range were used, the fully

camouflaged plumage carried by these South Wales based aircraft being a pleasing contrast to the brighter colours used elsewhere. ■

The additional details under the nose add a further splash of colour. Note the red navigation light that was also added at this time.

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IN DETAIL: REFERENCE FEATURE

JET P In flight!

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T PROVOST WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY SPENCER POLLARD AND ALAN FIRBANK

The Jet Provost T.3/4 in flight and on display around the UK

The Newcastle Jet Provost

Company’s Jet provost T.3A

, XM479 shows off it’s won

derful plumage. (Alan Firbank)

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IN DETAIL: REFERENCE FEATURE XM479 shows of it’s wonderfully bright training colours. (Alan Firbank)

A

B

C

D

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E

F

G

A: The intakes on Bruntingthorpe’s camouflaged aircraft are finished in white. Note the anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen. B: The nose lights are apparent in this view, along with the small intake that can be seen just in front of the anti-glare panel. C: The canopy sections in the Airfix kit are quite plain and could do with some additional details, much of which can see seen here. D: Intake detail. Note the rivets and fasteners on this part of the aircraft. E: Though simple, the intake is a very subtle shape. Note the metal colouring inside this particular structure. F: XM365 would be a good subject for a model, its slightly weathered finish and mismatched panels, looking great in 1:72. G: ’No Step’ stencil found on the leading edge of the wing. Note the subtle weathering.

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IN DETAIL: REFERENCE FEATURE Seen in its original South Arabian Air Force colours, Sword Aviation’s T.52 looks superb in flight. (Alan Firbank)

Bruntingthorpe is home to a number of Jet Provosts, their T.4, XP672, can be seen here in the colours of 79 Squadron Royal Air Force.

Ready for its ‘fast taxi’, XP672 reveals its illuminated lights that form part of the nosecone of the aircraft.

The other Jet Provost seen at Bruntingthorpe is this T.3A, serial number XM365. Its bright training colours are in stark contrast to those seen on the other, 79 Squadron aircraft.

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The narrow track of the Jet Provost’s undercarriage is very apparent here, as is the dihedral of the wings.

In our kit build the lights that form part of the tip tanks were added, here, they can be seen in detail.

Seen in blue and white civilian colours together with registration G-BWDS, Jet Provost XM 424 was built in Luton in 1960 and delivered to the RAF in April to RAF Shawbury for pre-service preparation, before service at RAF Little Rissington where she served with the Central Flying School. (Alan Firbank)

Ready for another flying display, XM479 reveals some of the aerials fitted under the nose of the aircraft. (Alan Firbank)

The aircraft’s squat appearance on the ground and pronounced dihedral can both be seen in this shot. As seen on our review build, the area around the jet pipe remains in polished natural metal.

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

SPECIFICATION:

HobbyBoss 1/48 Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound Kit No. 81753 Materials: IM/PE Availability: Hannants in the UK Price £63.99

BEFORE STARTING:

● EMA Plastic Weld ● Tamiya Extra Thin Cement ● Deluxe Materials Plastic Magic ● Gunze Sangyo Mr.Cement S ● Tamiya masking Tape ● Swann-Morton Scalpel No.3 handle with no.11 blades ● Wilder pointed tweezers ● Mastercasters sponge sanders ● Deluxe materials Perfect Plastic Putty ● Micro drill and bits ● Roket Rapid Super glue ● Roket Blaster

AIRBRUSH:

Iwata Revolution CR

Foxhoun BUILT AND WRITTEN BY MIKE WILLIAMS

Part 1 of our special head-to-head sees us build the brand-new HobbyBoss 1:48 MiG-31

PAINTS USED: Mr. Paint MRP-189 Traffic Grey Tamiya Acrylics XF-69 NATO Black XF-49 Khaki XF-63 German Grey XF-5 Green X-22 Gloss Clear XF-86 Flat Clear Gunze Mr. Hobby H305 Gray H77 Tire Black Xtracolor Enamels X628 Eastern Bloc Wheel Hub Green X629 Blue/Green Interior Soviet Aircraft Humbrol Enamels Matt 61 Flesh Alclad lacquers Aluminium Steel Matt Black Micro Filler Primer

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und

I

t seems some subjects of kits these days There are plenty of things to go under the wings, adhere to the old phrase “You wait ages for no less than ten of the runners covering the stores. a bus, then two turn up!” with the MiG-31 Notable are the two huge fuel tanks included in the Foxhound being the latest type to appear kit, not something I could find pictures of being carried from a couple of different manufacturers in by the Foxhound, try as I might. The same conclusion recent times. Last year we had the AMK kit and was drawn when I questioned some of my peers and now HobbyBoss have entered the fray with their fellow authors on this issue, but still they are included take on this hulking Russian interceptor, though it should you wish to build and fit them. All the parts seems like a generic mark as there is no particular are cleanly moulded with some fine rivet and panel subtype listed, it is simply a “Russian MiG-31 lines present, the clear parts are especially worthy of Foxhound”. mention as the moulded detail is just astonishing for From what I can fathom this is their rendition of the the main canopy parts. earlier MiG-31B prior to the upgrade to MiG-31 BM Interestingly the decal sheets seem to have enough or BSM. Though it would seem that the parts to build aircraft numbers to allow the modeller to make almost these later versions are included in the kit, so, my any of the early interceptors having two strips of three advice is to check your references for the particular font types included along with the many, many stencil aircraft you are going to model. In the interests of this data markings and of course the big red stars. No build review I would be sticking to a straight-from-theother nation operates the type so it is a Russian AF box build which is, I believe, a B model. machine or nothing I’m afraid. It is certainly a box chock-full of plastic on first perusal, no less than 25 runners are crammed into the Getting Started large box along with some sturdy white metal parts for First order of the day was take a good look through the the undercarriage legs, two small photo etched(PE) instructions and see what could be built up and glued sheets and some rubber tyres and two decal sheets. together to get drying and curing ready for when I

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

All major cockpit components were basecoated in that hideous Blue/Green that Russian aircraft manufacturers seem to love, luckily Xtracolor have an exact shade in their range of enamels.

The pair of K-36 ejection seats were more than adequate and consisted of ten parts per seat. You can see one assembled on the right and the component parts to get there on the left.

Brass photo-etched parts were included to add some fine details in and around the cockpit, for example the HUD unit and covers on the front windscreen coaming panels.

The completed cockpit was a very good rendition with some excellent details, including decals for the ejector seat head boxes. The side consoles decals worked exceptionally well.

The supplied decals for the instrument panels were utilised, though they were not quite correct showing the instruments as ‘switched on’. However they made for a colourful cockpit.

Each intake unit was assembled after the insides had been sprayed Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver. They were made up from nine pieces for each intake and their fit was very nicely rendered along natural join lines.

The nose gear cabin was assembled this far before painting as the nose undercarriage leg needed to be fitted in situ. A metal core was supplied which the plastic parts were attached to, making a very detailed, yet strong assembly.

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Main gear bays; On the left is a completed unit, on the right are the parts for the other still needing to be assembled. Care needed to be taken with these units as they were handed for port and starboard.

came to them later in the build. The wings and tails/rudders can all be built now and set aside along with the intake mouths, weapons pylons and missiles. With those subassemblies sorted attention could turn to the instructions proper and I could get started with the cockpit. There are almost 30 parts to make up the cockpit including PE parts and a couple of clear panels between the front and rear cockpits, two seats which are rather nice renditions of the ubiquitous K-36 seat used in most modern Russian jets are assembled with nicely moulded details such as the belts and handles. I took all the parts aside from the seats and sprayed them in that lurid turquoise green colour using Xtracolor enamel in the form of X629 Blue/Green Soviet aircraft Interior. This acted as a base coat and primer in one fell swoop allowing the details to be picked out and the decals applied. Yes, you read correctly, decals for the cockpit. Normally I would give them a swerve but they looked amazing on the decal sheet so I thought them worth a shot. To my amazement they fitted perfectly over the mouldings but I did cut them into sections rather than trying to get the one piece instrument panel decals to conform. The side console decals however were even more spectacular, snuggling down perfectly giving that ‘painted-on’ look we all strive to achieve.

The main gear bays installed without issue and each one was securely fixed into place. It didn’t look pretty here, but this won’t be seen on the finished model.

Once installed, the actuators for the forward doors could be a hindrance, though with care they could be added later in the build. Notice the weathering wash has been added inside here also.

The forward fuselage with cockpit makes up one into one subassembly. This went together without issue, the cockpit simply clicked into place on either side.

The nose gear assembly had to be fitted inside the bay at this time. Not always a good idea before painting/masking, though it made for a strong unit and the fit was perfect.

You can see here the complexity of the forward fuselage parts break down. I was not sure how good this was going to fare looking at the small protrusion from the main fuselage to the nose section…

All the undercarriage bays are fitted and the nose subassembly was simply slotted into place. The fit was almost perfect here despite the complex shapes along the joins.

The forward windscreen and centre canopy sections were dry fitted to see if they could be left off until later, contrary to the instructions. Their fit was perfect, allaying any fears.

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

It was all a squeeze, but everything fitted easily with care. It made for a very snug fit inside with the intakes and undercarriage bays, though this does add some integrity.

Care was needed building up the air intakes and their respective trunking as they curve inwards and need to be assembled correctly to avid fit issues later. The compressor faces CAN be seen on he finished model too.

A word of caution in the cockpit assembly none was added and as it turns out none was though as the retraction struts for the canopies needed in the finished model, it is far from a are fitted here to allow the canopies to be tail sitter as the main undercarriage legs are posed open though strangely, there is no situated well aft of the centre of gravity. option to have the canopies closed. Though I Before the nose section with cockpit can be would imagine that if you wanted the canopies fixed to the lower fuselage half, the nose gear closed it would simply be a matter of bay needs to be assembled and put not putting the retraction struts in into place. The nose leg itself is or at least shortening them. If made up from eight parts and you put them in at the time includes a rather sturdy of cockpit assembly, then metal part which forms you will need to take the wheel bogey and care not to damage a core around which them during the rest the plastic parts are of the build as they do affixed. It is very clever tend to stick out a bit to include the strength and could get in the of metal parts but with way. With hindsight I the details moulded Each tail was made up from three could have left them in plastic which are pieces each, including separate rudder out and fitted them far more refined than parts which all fitted perfectly. The tails much later on, though I they would be if the differ so take care fitting them to the am not sure how secure entire gear leg had been correct side. a fixing I could have got if I moulded in metal. The leg had done so given how deep assembly has to be fitted when inside the cockpit their attachment you assemble the nose gear bay points are! though, which could be asking for trouble later in the build if it was just a normal plastic The completed cockpit assembly fits into the nose fuselage halves without issue and leg, but with the stiff metal core, there is no fear can be put aside until needed later. There is of it snapping off during the rest of building and no mention of nose weight being required so painting, as I was to find. The locating points in

With all joins and seams filled and sanded back, the separate control surfaces, tails and horizontal stabilisers were fitted, the latter being a dry fit here, thus completing major assembly.

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The upper wings were moulded with the upper fuselage as one piece. The lower wings fitted to the undersides with little effort or clean up needed.

The fit was less than stellar around to upper intakes to the upper fuselage. With hindsight I would have left the intakes loose and fitted them at the same time as the upper fuselage to ensure it all aligned properly.

This was about the best I could get as regards the rear lower fuselage join, the other side was a marginally better fit. Note the differing raised and recessed panel line details around the lower fuselage also.

Despite my best efforts each of the main upper to lower fuselage joins needed some attention. A couple of small shims of plastic card were needed before Mr. Surfacer 500 liquid putty was brushed along each seam.

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the nose gear bay are VERY positive - in fact, some of the best I have ever seen in a kit. The nose gear bay is very nicely detailed too with enough parts for it to look busy enough without going over the top. The same can be said for both the main gear bays, each being brilliantly detailed with plenty of parts to draw your eye to the details. All the gear bays were painted Aluminium and given a wash of Alclad Hogwash Dirt and Grime which imparts a suitably greasy and used look to these areas. Once installed, they are excellent, solid housings for the undercarriage, as they need to be, as this is a big and heavy model when finished. The gear bays were fixed into place with Plastic Weld cement which is the best I have used when you need a good solid bond. Once the gear bays were in, the rest of the build came together quite quickly with the nose/cockpit section fitting pretty much perfectly onto the lower forward fuselage section. All the joins fall along natural panel lines except for a couple so clean up was a simple enough affair and was the work of minutes.

The ventral strakes were added along with Perfect Plastic Putty along the underside wing to fuselage joins which were easily cleaned up with a moistened cotton bud before the filler dried.

The insides of the huge jet exhausts needed to be painted in that ubiquitous Russian Green. Tamiya Flat Green is as good as any, especially after they receive some weathering and scorch marks.

Though no masks are provided it was easy enough to mask up the insides of the canopies before painting them the same interior Blue/ Green as the rest of the cockpit interior.

Moving On…

Now we come to the main event: getting the large upper and lower fuselage halves together along with intakes and the wing sections which form part of the one piece upper fuselage. I fitted the intakes first as per the instructions. Though a relatively tight fit they form up with the forward fuselage to make a solid front section. With hindsight I would have attached these along with the rest of the upper and lower fuselage halves and wings at the same time, to make sure everything lines up. I found that once the intakes had dried it was a bit of a squeeze to get all the joining surfaces to touch at the same time, and I couldn’t help feeling that if the intakes had been attached at the same time it would have made for a much easier assembly. As it was, I managed to get the best fit possible using Plastic Weld and its fast drying time to form a strong bond, leaving me a couple of gaps and some long seams to sort out. The gaps were shimmed with slivers of plastic card and trimmed down before all seams were brushed with Mr. Surfacer 500 and wet sanded. To be honest I was rather disappointed with this part of the build. It did not go together anywhere near as well as I had hoped it would and left me feeling somewhat disheartened. I had to walk away at this point as I was feeling rather frustrated and annoyed that it wasn’t going to plan. After sleeping on it and in the cold light of day it seemed nowhere near as bad as it did the previous day. I set to work cleaning up the seams and also added a smear of Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty on the underside wing to fuselage joins, a bit of overkill maybe but I wanted to ensure a smooth transition from wings to fuselage. There was some re-scribing needed around the rear section of the fuselage, near where the horizontal stabilisers fit and some rivets needed reinstating around the top of the intakes. About an hour’s work in all but I

FOXHOUND 1.indd 7

The Foxhound features distinctive pink-coloured canopy sealant on the outside edges. Humbrol 61 Flesh was a good match and was simply brushed on. This did mean the canopies would need remasking to cover the sealant edges.

Some parts need extreme care when removing them from the runners, these undercarriage parts are good example. Using a new blade each attachment point was scored through again and again until the parts were freed.

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Alclad Black Primer/ Microfiller was sprayed over the entire model before the anti-glare panel was masked off and the tail panels and nose cone were sprayed Gunze Dark Gull Ghost Grey, these in turn would be masked off also.

couldn’t help feeling it could have (should have?) been so much better if HobbyBoss had changed the design and had the seam run along the top of the fuselage sides, rather than the stepped affair we have here. When fixing the wings in place you are given the option to have the flying controls and flaps positioned drooped or in their neutral position, the difference being which attachment tabs you use or remove. Very clear instructions are given for either way however I opted to fit them in the neutral position as I could not seem to find any reference photos showing them lowered on a parked aircraft. Initially I was unsure the attachment tabs would be man enough for the job, but they fitted neatly and tightly and required nothing more than a brush of liquid cement to secure them. The same cannot be said for the horizontal stabilisers though as the attachment points for these are nowhere near big enough or strong enough and could possibly do with some reinforcement. I was now nearing the point when I could start to think about painting the model and took a look through the instructions to see whet else would need adding or putting together before I could start spraying. There seems a couple of strange construction choices once the main fuselage and wings have been assembled. HobbyBoss would have the canopies fitted along with all the undercarriage legs, wheels and doors now as well as the jet exhausts. I would suggest these are all left off until main painting is done as these can all be painted separately and added later on as I would normally do with most models I build. At this point I added all the aerials and antennas that would be painted the same colour as the main airframe, including some rather fine PE parts just in front of the windscreen. I would advise leaving the nose mounted pitot off until the last minute though as I managed to snap it off twice before realising it would be better off left until later. The windscreen,

Almost an entire bottle of MRP Traffic Grey was used for painting the main airframe. Odd as it may sound, it was easier to paint Light Grey over a Black primer than the paint Light Grey over Light grey plastic.

Some shading was added with some thinned dark grey paint along various panel lines along with some Ammo of Mig panel line washes to enhance the fine rivets and panel lines.

The decals settled beautifully with a little solvent after a smooth gloss varnish had been applied. Though not obvious, there are well over 100 decals due to the sheer amount of stencils seen on the MiG-31.

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HobbyBoss supply the wheels as rubber tyres and separate wheel hubs which are okay, however the rubber can perish in time, especially if painted and/or varnished. Two Mikes Resin make excellent replacements which were used on our build.

Each of the huge exhausts for the MiG-31 were simply painted and assembled, five parts making up each of them including nicely rendered flame rings for the afterburners.

Once painted and installed the wheels looks fantastic. The wheel bogies were supplied in the kit as white metal parts which added to the integrity.

centre unit and both opening sections of the canopies were all readied here too, including the internal framing and PE details that make up inside the canopies. Mention must be made here of just how detailed these canopy parts are, the mouldings are excellent and the internal frames are delicate but fit perfectly inside the clear pieces. The painting of the canopies needed a bit of thought as the MiG-31 has some rather prominent heat resistant canopy sealant around the main frames which is a pink colour. My way around this was to mask off the inside of the canopy frames as well as the outside frames before brush painting the edges with Humbrol 61 Matt Flesh which looks a suitable shade for the sealant. I did cut the masks for the outside slightly undersized to allow for the sealant layer before painting the sealant edges When dry I removed the outside masking and re-masked the canopy frames to the actual edge covering a thin line of the sealant colour. The insides of the canopies needed painting next with that unique interior Green/Blue shade I previously used inside the cockpit. The windscreen and centre unit can now be fitted, opposed to the instructions that would have these fitted much, much earlier in the build. These two parts fit absolutely

Each main gear leg was made up from seven parts each including the metal cores and stay braces. Installation was relatively easy despite the high parts count and multiple attachment points.

perfectly and you’ll know when they are in as you will hear a resounding “click” – brilliant!

Paint And Decals…

Before I got busy with the airbrush I made sure all seams were dealt with and masked off the cockpit orifices as well as the undercarriage bays with sponge packing foam and masking tape. The first step was to spray the entire model and all parts that would be the same colour in a primer, I chose Alclad Matt Black Primer Micro Filler as this is a good solid opaque primer that lays down smoothly in one coat. Using a Black Base coat for a Light Grey overall camouflage scheme may seem counterintuitive, but bear with me… It is much easier to spray a Light Grey shade such as the “Traffic Grey” used on the MiG-31 over a darker or black base coat, the reason is that you can see exactly where you have been and just how well the paint is covering. I only needed two light coats over the entire model to get the coverage I wanted, it also works as a pre-shade but is far less uniform and less stark than the traditional way of pre shading along panel lines etc. If you have ever tried spraying light grey

The unique streaking seen on the rear of the Foxhound was imparted with artists oils streaked away from masking tape along panel lines using cotton buds and fan brushes.

paint over light grey plastic then you’ll probably see where I am coming from, it is not always easy to see the definition between the two greys. The anti-glare panel in front of the cockpit was masked off as this needs to stay black, just take care around the small aerials etc. Next was the nose cone and tail dialectric panels that need to be a dark grey, I sprayed these Mr. Hobby H305 Gray FS36118 which seemed near enough and to be honest almost any dark grey shades would suffice as they do tend to weather from airframe to airframe. With these panels masked off I used the new MRP paint shade which is specifically mixed for the MiG-31, MRP-189 Traffic Grey for the main airframe painting. This is superb paint and airbrushes straight from the bottle, laying down with smooth coverage to a tough satin finish. It is technically an acrylic but with a lacquer base so it dries really fast too, which is always a bonus when you build to a deadline. I added some post shading with a slightly darker shade of grey along some panel lines and areas of heavy wear following my reference photos as well as adding some Ammo of Mig panel line washes(PLW) around some of the rivet details and panel lines . What is nice with these PLW is they can be varied around the airframe as they come in varying grey shades in their US

With the masking tape removed the streaking is subtle, I would however add heavier streaking with the masking tape in place and some deft airbrush work.

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Navy set. If you leave them to dry off or a little while you can then remove any excess with cotton buds or kitchen paper leaving neatly highlighted details. Though if you leave them to dry almost completely they can be polished with kitchen paper imparting a fantastic dirty staining effect as can be seen on the nose and intakes on my model in particular. After about half an hour I gave the whole model a light gloss coat with Tamiya X-22 Clear thinned with Mr. Color Levelling Thinner which is probably the best Gloss Clear I have found so far (though I am always looking at alternatives) giving a smooth shiny finish which is decal ready. While I left the paint and gloss to dry out thoroughly overnight before decals could be applied, I turned my attention to the undercarriage legs and wheels and the missiles for my chosen load out. The wheels as supplied by HobbyBoss are of the rubber tyre with plastic hubs variety. Not my preferred method it has to be said, so with this in mind I opted to replace them with some resin ones from TwoMikes resin. These wheels are in fact designed for the AMK kit, though all you need to do is drill out the attachment points a little wider on the centre of the hubs and they fit the HobbyBoss kit perfectly. The wheels were airbrushed Gunze H77 Tire Black and the hubs painted in Xtracolor X628 Eastern Bloc Wheel

Hub Green before also receiving a wash to tone down the brightness of the green and make them look suitably used and grimy. The undercarriage legs for the main gear are very substantial units and look to be quite complex in the instructions, though just take your time and follow them to the letter and you will not go wrong. One word of warning though; take care removing some of the retraction arms from the runners as they are quite small and fragile parts that could be easily damaged. When it comes to installing the main gear legs onto the model though the instructions are excellent, very clear and precise as to what exactly goes where – well done HobbyBoss, others could learn a lot from these. The missiles were next for me to sort out and paint, and the most difficult part is choosing which load out you want as HobbyBoss supply quite a nice selection. Included are four of the large R-33 missiles which fit under the main fuselage recesses (a little like the Phoenix missiles you find on an F-14 Tomcat) alongside a pair of R040T and a pair of R-40R missiles and four of the smaller short range R-60’s. Whichever you choose they all fit perfectly and just require painting and decalling, which is so easy given the

supplied full colour painting and marking guide. I spent the next couple of evenings applying the many, many decals to the whole model and missiles and pylons. The MiG-31, on first glance appears to have precious few markings aside from the aircraft numbers and Red Stars, on closer inspection, however, you’ll notice that like a lot of modern aircraft it is literally covered in tiny stencil data, all of which are supplied in the kit. There are over 200 decals to apply, most of which are stencil data markings, so you can see where I am coming from when I say that I wish that the placement guide was a little bit bigger. It got a bit confusing and rather taxing on the eyes trying to figure out just exactly where each little decal should be placed using the A4 sheet supplied. Given the size of the box this model comes in, they could have doubled the size of the painting and marking guide sheet making life a lot easier. A minor quibble maybe, but it is just my opinion. Onto the final straight now and the decals were sealed with a light coat of X-22 Gloss as previously described before I could finish the weathering using some oils and the airbrush for the unique stains found around the rear of the aircraft. It was simply a matter of following reference photos and using some wide masking tape along various panels for the streaking to be applied. The undercarriage and wheels were all

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fitted next with their associated doors and attachment and retraction points. The main gear doors left me wishing I had an extra pair of hands when trying to position them at the correct angles, lining up the retraction arms and then applying glue to the relevant areas, it was tricky I won’t lie to you, but when done they look suitably busy and as if they could actually work. Kudos to HobbyBoss for not skimping on the details here.

Finishing Off…

I then sprayed the entire model with a finishing

varnish using Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear, which is a new one on me. I had no idea Tamiya made a flat varnish! It is not completely matt and to that end looks great, imparting a uniform finish on the model with it not looking too flat and dead. The pitot and missiles were added after I unmasked the clear parts and fixed them into place with a few drops of odourless superglue. Last but not least was the not insubstantial jet exhausts. These are massive units on the real aircraft and are suitably detailed inside and out with only a minimal parts count.

The interior parts needed to be painted that ubiquitous Green shade the Russians are so fond of on their aircraft internals, I found that Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green fitted the bill almost perfectly. The afterburner flame ring is brilliantly moulded and fits perfectly within the exhaust, suitably deep inside but not so far back that it cannot be seen. The exhaust cans were airbrushed with Alclad Steel and then they were assembled and fitted with the internal parts , slotting in easily to the back of the model . ■

FINAL VERDICT This is a fine kit of a beast of an aeroplane. There are some notable foibles in the assembly and it does seem rather old fashioned in places, like the rear fuselage join lines and the separate intake mouth units that could catch you unawares. From what I have seen in comparison to the AMK model it seems like HobbyBoss made this in as few pieces as possible in order to try and save either the parts count or the complexity, but it is let down on the major seams and joins. The undercarriage however is a real highlight as is the superb cockpit and canopy mouldings .The wheels are a personal choice as regards the rubber tyres, but replacements are available should you wish to go that route. One limitation is the final paint scheme as all Foxhounds look the same given the nature of the finish, so I am not sure I would build more than one of this type, as attractive as it is as a type. Overall a decent effort from HobbyBoss, but it just left me feeling rather short-changed as regards a 21st Century tooling of a modern jet interceptor. Maybe I’ve been spoiled with the likes of Tamiya and GWH kits, but this could have been much, much better if they had thought out the fuselage assembly design a little better. Maybe it is just me, but we should not have to resort to plastic card shims and serious amounts of trimming and sanding on a newly tooled kit from a large company such as Hobbyboss/Trumpeter. Thanks to HobbyBoss for the review sample.

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SPECIFICATION:

AvantGarde Model Kits Mig-31 BM/BSM Mikoyan Foxhound Scale: 1:48 Kit No: 88003 Materials: IM Available From: Hannants Price Guide: £42.99

BEFORE STARTING:

● Humbrol Liquid Poly ● Tamiya Masking Tape ● Sprue Cutters ● Tweezers ● Scalpel ● Plasti-Zap Cyanoacrylate Glue ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Cement S ● Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer 500 ● Microscale Micro Set and Sol Decal Solution ● Microscale Micro Kristal Klear

PAINT USED

Microscale Micro Gloss Microscale Micro Flat Johnson’s Klear Tamiya Color Acrylics X- 27 Clear Red X-25 Clear Green XF-69 NATO Black Gunze-Sangyo Mr. Hobby H012 Flat Black

Humbrol: 33 Matt Black 34 Matt White 11 Silver Mr Paint: MRP-1 Russia Turquoise Cockpit MRP-9 White Aluminium MRP-32 Green for Wheels MRP-47 Dark Grey MRP-126 Super Clear Semimatt MRP-186 Light Grey MRP-189 Traffic Grey Alclad II Alclad II Aluminium 101 Alclad II Jet Exhaust 113 Flory Models Wash: Dark Dirt

AIRBRUSH USED:

Iwata HP-B Plus & Iwata HP-BH

ACCESSORIES USED:

Eduard BRASSIN Mikoyan Mig-31BM Foxhound Wheels ED 64828 Eduard Mikoyan Mig-31BM Interior FE752 New Ware Mask Mikoyan Mig-31BM/BSM Expert AM081

REFERENCES:

There are not a lot of books on this aircraft however the internet does have lots of information and images. The book below is an excellent reference: Flight Craft 8, Mikoyan Mig-31 Interceptor, Author Yefim Grodon & Dmitriy Komissarov, Pen & Sword Aviation, ISBN 978 47382 392 1

SOURCES:

Mr Paint - www.mrpaint.sk

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Foxhound A BUILT AND WRITTEN BY ALAN PRICE

Part two of our special head-to-head sees us build the very impressive AMK MiG-31Bm/BSM

s our readership may have noticed, I’m not one for modern jets really. The vast majority of my models are prop aircraft and second world war ones at that. However that’s not to say I don’t have an interest in modern jets and when AMK brought out their all new MiG-31 last year, I picked one up straight away. Some months later, our esteemed editor asked me if I’d like to build it for the magazine as he was pushed for time to build one himself, well how could I refuse? This really is one of those kits you just want to start straight away. Opening the rather large box reveals a stack of runners with beautifully moulded parts crammed into it. The mouldings really are first class, there is little I can add to that really. They stand comparison with pretty much anything out there, which is very impressive for a new company. The missiles are slide moulded in one piece and packaged in their own box for safe keeping. The main fuselage section is likewise packaged in another box. A very large and well printed decal sheet is provided as is a superb instruction book. The only complaint I had about this was the colour guides were a bit roughly printed. To go with this build, at Scale Model World the Editor passed to me the full set of Mr. Paint colours to use on this build as well as Eduard BRASSIN wheels. I also added the Eduard cockpit set to the build.

Build Time

This is a big model. That strikes you straight away when

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The intake trunking is full length, from the inlets to the compressor fans and it’s very detailed. The outside forms the inboard wall of the undercarriage bay. The whole lot requires painting and weathering before assembly.

This is the completed port inlet. The undercarriage parts at the rear can safely be left off until later in the build to save damage.

There are basic engines supplied, these are not visible once the fuselage is closed up. They do however provide a very detailed jet pipe and the compressor fan at the front is visible inside the inlets. Thus these areas need painting before assembly.

The nose undercarriage bay also needs painting and assembling at this time. The undercarriage parts do need to go in at this time, it’s not possible to attach these later.

The inlets and engines snap into place in the fuselage and the nose gear bay is then glued in place, the fuselage is now ready to close up.

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unpacking the centre section from its box. This is where the build begins and a lot of work has to go into this centre section to get things moving. Firstly there is the maze of inlet trunking, which included the main undercarriage bays too. The many parts that make this up look very complicated but fit together perfectly, like a jigsaw puzzle. Pay careful attention here as it’s not obvious how everything fits. The instructions advise fitting some of the undercarriage parts in the sidewalls at this time, I did this and then had to tape them over to prevent them being damaged. However, I found at the end of the build that these parts (L39 & 40, L15, L4, L42 & 43) can safely be left off until the end and easily manoeuvred into place when required. The inlet trunking parts were all airbrushed with Mr. Hobby H-8 Silver then after a coat of Microscale Gloss, a wash using a mix of Klear, water and a touch of Mr. Hobby H-12 Flat Black was flooded over everything and left to dry. A matt coat sealed the parts which were then glued together. The fit into the fuselage is very precise and a clean up of some edges is required to ensure the trunking snaps into place. The inside of the burner cans were airbrushed with Tamiya X-10 Gunmetal and X-33 Bronze for a dark, burnt look, before being assembled and glued in place. The nose gear undercarriage bay has to be assembled at this time and the same painting process was applied as for the inlet trunking. The undercarriage parts L28 and L49 do need to go in at this time and these were airbrushed Mr. Paint Light Grey Mig-31 Chassis Covers MRP-186.

With the fuselage interior now complete, the wings were glued on, this massive piece has both wings and the upper fuselage decking in one. Fit was excellent, just a bit of Perfect Plastic Putty was rubbed along the underside wing-to-fuselage join to ensure a perfect finish. I next moved on to add the flaps, slats and wing fences, again this was drama-free except for the wing fences which I found took a bit of persuasion to seat properly. There are a few things to note about the wings, first the small aerials and the bullet fairings for the navigation light get broken easily. I lost count of the number of times I fixed the navigation lights, in the end I left them broken until the end of the build and fixed them at that point. The small aerials on the fins similarly cause problems. Secondly the slats need to be securely attached, the small tabs which locate them are a bit weak so I’d advise gluing along the entire length to avoid later breakage. I decided to complete the rest of the fuselage next, leaving the cockpit and nose till later. The tail surfaces are cleverly designed to fit with concealed joins almost everywhere. The whole side of the rear fuselage is attached with fin, rudder, strake and elevator, leaving almost nothing to clean up – an absolutely brilliant piece of design. This now left me with an almost complete airframe, and I’d had only 2 seams to clean up at this point, which I then realised were hidden by the inboard flaps so I could have left them. The cockpit was next and this took a bit longer. Again, the engineering is excellent but I had some modifications to make, to fit the Eduard set. Looking back I’m not sure

this really adds that much, I think with careful painting the interior could look just as good. The ejection seats are beautiful and just the addition of the Eduard harnesses was required to make these look the part. Photos showed these generally all black and I couldn’t see the odd back piece that Eduard provide in the set so I left this off, using only the belts. The seats were airbrushed black then given a heavy dry brush of pale grey enamel. Over this I then flooded the Klear/water/black wash which toned the dry brushing down and added depth to the recessed detail. The interior is all painted that interesting green the Russians use, in this case I used Mr. Paint Russia Turquoise Green MRP-1. This was a good match for the colour Eduard had painted their parts and after a wash was applied and the matt varnish, they appeared pretty much identical.

Prior to attaching the wings, the lower sections were glued on. The upper wing is one huge piece which was later found to fit onto the fuselage perfectly.

The fins are moulded with the rear sides of the fuselage. Onto this the fuselage strakes, rudders and locating pins for the elevators are glued.

The upper wing in place – the fit was excellent and clever design left almost no seams to deal with.

The fins were next attached, a little tape was used here to ensure the joints were held tight while the glue set.

The cockpit is assembled as a whole unit and fits in from the rear of the nose, which is mounded as one complete piece. The Eduard set was very nice but even without this, cockpit detail is impressive.

Mr. Paint used for the build, proved to be excellent. It airbrushed beautifully, dried quickly and gave a very tough, smooth finish. The only down side is the smell which is not unlike Alclad II paint.

Nose Job

Assembling the cockpit took quite a few evenings but soon it was time to mate the nose to the fuselage, often a point where problems occur. Not so here; once again the fit was virtually perfect with minimal clean up required. Things were now approaching completion in terms of construction and with the engine intakes painted, assembled and glued in place the construction was complete. At this point I was contemplating painting and in particular, how I was going to do the infamous pink sealer around the windows. I had bought the Furball decal set for this but decided this might pose problems with masking later. In the end I bought the New Ware mask set and used

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The assembled nose fitted perfectly into the fuselage, no work required here eliminating seams. Note the line of filler on the nose cone, the parting line here was filled with a bit of Mr. Surfacer then sanded back to save affecting the shape.

A seam! Yes there was one seam to fill, a slight step appeared where the fin assembly met the fuselage, this was built up with filler and sanded back to keep the round shape intact.

Almost time to paint so the canopy fixed sections were glued in place and the cockpit area masked.

these instead. With all the canopy sections prepared and the interior masks applied, the interior colour is first airbrushed using Mr. Paint MRP-1 again. After removing the masks, the first set of outside masks are applied and the pink sealer colour airbrushed. The masks are removed and another set applied, these cover the pink sealer and so leave the line around

The inlets were painted and assembled off the airframe, these were then glued in place.

With the cockpit interior colours painted, the masks were changed to the slightly smaller ones and the pink sprayed for the sealer strips.

the windows later. The external airframe colour is now applied and the painting process is complete. Naturally the masks are left in place until the final finish has been applied.

Lots and Lots of Paint…

After a clean up of the airframe, I sprayed the entire model with Mr. Surfacer as a primer/

basecoat. I did have the Mr. Paint Fine Surface Primer but I decided to stick with what I knew this time. I’ll try that on a smaller build first and report on that later. This is a very big model and painting it takes a lot of paint, and a lot of time. I preshaded the panel lines with black then made a start on the base colour. The base colour is ‘Traffic Grey’ which Mr. Paint

The airframe was now almost complete and a bit of tidying up was done, sanding any glue marks etc. The area behind the inlets was also airbrushed Traffic Grey before attaching then as this would be difficult to paint later.

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Having then changed the canopy masks to the larger ones which cover the newly painted sealer strips, the primer could be applied.

supplies as MRP-189. The Alclad-II style glass bottles of the paint hold quite a lot of ready-toairbrush paint and in this case I got through ¾ of the bottle! These paints are not dissimilar to Alclad II and do rather smell a lot. Even with both my spray booths running, after an hour of painting, the model room was pretty smelly. However, the finish was great, it’s hard as nails, smooth and has good coverage. Looking at photos of these aircraft showed a variety of finishes from pristine to very worn and tired looking. I had decided to build Blue 93 and photos of this aircraft showed it in a fairly well cared for state. There was some characteristic fading and staining which appeared on most aircraft so with that in mind I pressed on with painting. I began by painting a number of panels in a darker shade of grey, made by adding a touch of Mr. Paint Dark Grey MRP-47

A black preshade was applied next in preparation for the Traffic Grey.

to the Traffic Grey. Further panels were feather shaded from front to back. Next, all the nose and radio antenna covers were all airbrushed with MRP-47, this is Mr. Paint’s specific colour for these on Russian aircraft. There are quire a few of these panels and though AMK provide decals for the smaller ones, I masked and airbrushed all of them. Finally the upper and lower black sections on the nose were airbrushed. Pay particular attention to the aircraft you are building here, especially for the upper black around the canopy. The demarcation varies considerably and some have a hard edge, others a soft, sprayed edge. Due to the sheer size of the model, the painting had taken almost two weeks to complete. Once finished however it was well worth the time and it was now beginning to look the way I wanted. Decals were next

so a coat of Microscale Gloss went on first. There are a lot of decals and this tool five evenings of work. AMK helped a lot here by grouping the stencils into blocks which were then marked, for example ‘wing upper right’ ‘fuselage lower’ etc. A whole host of placement diagrams are provided and in another nice touch, the numbering of the decals generally flowed round each section so it was easy to find, locate and place each decal. The decals themselves worked very well with Microscale setting solutions.

On its Wheels

After completing the marathon of applying decals, I used Flory Models Dark Dirt wash for the panel lines, this was just dark enough for the job. A coat of Klear then went on and I started to work on the undercarriage. The

The Mr Paint Traffic Grey took several coats to achieve the finish I was after, this is what it looked like after the first session.

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I decided the next day that the preshading was too strong so applied a few more coats of Traffic Grey, this I was then happy with.

BRASSIN wheels were readied first. These are simply beautifully moulded, with slightly flattened tyres. The hubs were painted with Mr. Paint Green for Wheels MRP-32 and the tyres hand painted with Humbrol enamel black with a touch of white added. Like the ejection seats these were then dry brushed grey and given a black wash. The complex undercarriage was first cleaned up then partly assembled before I added brake lines from lead wire. The whole lot was then airbrushed Mr. Paint Light Grey MRP186 and given a black wash. The spindly undercarriage was then glued in place and proved to be incredibly strong once the glue set. Undercarriage doors went on and then I was ready for the final finish which was supplied by Mr. Paint Super Clear Semi Matt MRP-126. Normally I use Microscale Flat on my models and I was a bit wary about using something different. I needn’t have worried,

A bit of panel shading was applied and then all the dark grey antennae areas were masked and painted.

MR. PAINT

The black areas on the nose were the last painting required then I left the build for a couple of days to look at it with fresh eyes.

I decided I was fairly happy with the paint but felt some of the shading was too strong so I toned a few areas down, notably on the top of the fuselage. Note the jet pipes test fitted here, I was still to decide on a finish for them at this point.

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These new paints were for me a complete success. There is a downside and that’s the smell. Vent your spray booth out the window if possible, I did with mine later on and it was much better. Don’t use these indoors without a spray booth though, it’s not recommended as the fumes are dangerous. I’ve already bought the Mr Paint colour for my Kinetic Su-33 which will be in MAI later in the year. I did find that swapping from acrylics to these could cause a sticky mess in the airbrush. Scrupulous cleaning is required to avoid this, using Alclad II airbrush cleaner or Mr. Color Thinner. I’ve now bought a second airbrush so I can dedicate one to each type of paint. Overall I loved these paints and I’ll be using more of them in the future.

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Head-on, the imposing design of this massive fighter becomes more than apparent!

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AMK’s decals were well laid out, other manufacturers could take note! This made applying the 200 or so stencils a lot easier.

the Mr Paint varnish was excellent, and in fact I may be a convert to this. Though Microscale is great, it can be temperamental. It doesn’t like to go over finger prints so you need to clean the model and only handle it with gloves in the later stages. It also can give an uneven

I had the Eduard Brassin wheel set for this kit, these are beautifully moulded and make an excellent addition to the build.

finish if it’s applied heavier in some areas than others. Mr. Paint didn’t care about finger prints or how much was put on. It just gave a superb, not-quite-matt finish that like the paint was very tough, resisting several knock on my desk lamps as I moved the model around that would

have left marks in Microscale. The jet pipes were now prepared and these were airbrushed with Alclad II Aluminium 101. Over this I next layered Alclad II Jet Exhaust 113, applying this heavier around panel lines to replicate the

The undercarriage and wheels were attached, no drama here, it all went together very easily. Note the staining around the rear of the fuselage, this is quite noticeable on these aircraft, especially as they get older.

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Decals went on over several evenings, starting with the main markings….

photos I had. These were then snapped into place in the rear of the fuselage with a drop of superglue on the locating tabs. The canopies were unmasked and glued in place which left

…and decals concluded with the mass of stencils. The panel lines were given a wash using Flory Models Dark Dirt, this seemed to go perfectly with the Traffic Grey.

the model finished all bar the stores. These were tackled next. I unpacked them from their box and cut the ones I wanted from the runners. Some assembly was required for a

few small parts. Though the moulding is superb I do have issues with the stores. The slide moulding left four parting lines around each missile which were basically impossible to remove

The underside of the completed model reveals its imposing weapon load.

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Almost done, the semi-matt varnish was applied and this was another Mr. Paint triumph. Just a few jobs left and the build would be finished.

without damaging the detail. This was most noticeable on the large missiles which fit under the fuselage as here there was a slight step

in places. I decided I could live with this and after several evenings painting, decaling and applying washes, the missiles did in fact look

great. Finally these were glued to their pylons and attached to the model. It was finished at last. ■

FINAL VERDICT Well, what can I say, this is an excellent model. Its hard to fault it and the only real concern I had was with the slide moulding on the stores, but lets be realistic here, when its sat on the shelf, you cant see the parting lines so lets just park that issue. Top marks to AMK, this is a real belter of a kit, and I can’t wait for their MiG-25!

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SHOWTIME WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY SPENCER POLLARD

WE VISIT THIS YEAR’S SOUTH CHESHIRE MILITAIRE

M

odels shows are always a fun diversion for those that want to be inspired by seeing other modellers’ work, buy the latest kits, or stock up on tools and products needed to finish the ones you already have. It was therefore with great pleasure that my mate Haris Ali and I took the short trip into the neighbouring county of Cheshire, to visit the South Cheshire Militaire. Though this year’s event was the 34th that had been arranged by

the South Cheshire Military Modelling Club, it was the first to be held at a new venue, Malbank 6th Form College, Nantwich. Having had some real problems with last year’s location, it was great to see the guys find a place that was as nice as this, all of the halls being bright, spacious and laid out in such a way that modellers could see everything they wanted to without undue crush or stress. We really liked it; the fact that the canteen also made some rather wonderful bacon sandwiches only added to the party!

Over the next few pages we bring you some of the models from the event. They are not necessarily our favourites, just ones that caught out eye. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and hope that you enjoy seeing the images as much as we enjoyed seeing the real thing during a most enjoyable day out in Cheshire. Thanks go out to the organisers for their hospitality and we look forward to seeing you all again next year! ■

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DESERT WAR BUILT AND WRITTEN BY JASON BREWER

SPECIFICATION:

Hasegawa P-40K Warhawk Kit No: 09753 Materials: IM Plastic Available From: Hasegawa retailers Price Guide: £21.99

BEFORE STARTING: ● Tamiya Extra Thin Cement ● Tamiya Masking Tape ● Sprue Cutters ● Tweezers ● Cyanoacrylate Glue ● Gunze Mr. Surfacer 500 ● Future floor polish ● Solvaset decal setting solution ● Microscale Micro Kristal Klear

We build the attractive Curtiss P-40K in 1:48, finishing it in an attractive North African scheme along the way…

PAINT USED:

Tamiya Color Acrylics XF-2 Flat White XF-3 Flat Yellow XF-7 Flat Red XF-10 Flat Brown XF-63 German Grey XF-64 Red Brown XF-69 NATO Black XF-71 Cockpit Green Gunze Sangyo Mr Hobby C336 Hemp C370 RAF Azure Blue Vallejo Model Color: 70950 Black 70951 White 70957 Flat Red 70819 Iraqian Sand 70995 German Grey AMMO of Mig Jimenez: A.MIG 1614 PLW Neutral Brown A.MIG 092 Crystal Green A.MIG 093 Crystal Red

AIRBRUSH USED: Iwata HP-B Plus

ACCESSORIES USED: CMK cockpit Ultracast seat Ultracast wheels Ultracast exhaust BarracudaCals decals Miracle Paint Masks

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WARHAWK A

s a modeller, there are some aircraft that I feel I just have to build at some point in my lifetime in order for my portfolio to be complete. I've never really been a huge fan of the P-40, but it is certainly a type that is on that mustbuild list. As a kid the shark-mouthed birds were easily among the most iconic and recognisable WW2 planes, but those markings were a little too cliché for me. A few years back BarracudaCals released a sheet for the P-40K that included a 64th FS plane that caught my eye with lots of art plastered on the side of it, and I figured

H

it was time to mark the Warhawk off of my bucket list. I grabbed a copy of the decal sheet, a Hasegawa kit with similar markings on the box art, an assortment of resin and PE details, and got to work. The P-40K variant was widely used the North African and Pacific theatres and for this build I chose to depict "White 13" from the 64th FS, stationed in Tunisia in May 1943.

Getting Started

I like to start off my builds by riveting, and to do so with this kit meant that I needed to

first assemble Hasegawa's *ahem* wonderful modular fuselage design. Each fuselage half is broken down into 5 parts - a main fuselage plus inserts for the tail, area behind the cockpit, and panels fore and aft of the exhaust. It actually worked in my favour to start out the build in this way, as following the instructions for assembly leads to large steps that must be dealt with due to the inserts being a different width than the main fuselage. It's much easier to fix gaps at the spine than steps on the sides! For this build I opted not to do a full rivet job, but instead chose to just busy it up a little

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KIT BUILD

Riveting done with RB Rivet-R Mini, followed by deepening with a needle point and then sanded flush.

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Hasegawa’s P-40 family features common fuselage halves with various inserts for different versions. Base colour and highlights applied to the cockpit parts. In order to eliminate the panel lines on the upper and lower surfaces of the main wings, Mr. White Putty was carefully spread over each line.

Base colour and fading sprayed on Ultracast’s resin seat with moulded belts

Details picked out with Vallejo acrylics and chipping with sponge and Citadel acrylics

Quick mock-up of the office before installing it in the fuselage

bit for visual interest. Following drawings in my research material, I laid out the general pattern with my RB Productions Rivet-R Mini followed by deepening of each rivet with a needle point and finished with a light sanding to knock down the ridges left by the process.

Cockpit

I had picked up the CMK cockpit set to use for this build, but was greatly disappointed to see there wasn't much of an advantage in detail over the kit parts. I opted to just go with

Seat chipped with Citadel acrylics applied with sponge and details picked out with Vallejo colours and a fine brush

the kit plastic except for the Eduard PE instrument panel included in the CMK set and an Ultracast resin seat with belts moulded in place. The office was painted with a custom mix based on Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green followed by some fading using the base color with a drop of Tamiya XF-2 Flat White added. I mixed the base color with Vallejo to both lighten the color and make it easier to paint by brush and highlighted the framing and various details on the sidewalls. Details were picked out using various

Cockpit parts finished with placards in place and dirtied up with AMMO washes

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Seamless intake painted and installed, drops right into place with the kit's locator tabs

Department Of Correction make an excellent seamless intake set for Hasegawa P-40s

The belts were painted with Vallejo Iraqian Sand and the buckles picked out with Citadel Mithryl Silver again. The printed color on Eduard's instrument panels always tend to look a little noisy, so I repainted it with XF-69 NATO Black and gave it a dry brushing treatment of Vallejo Neutral Grey to make the details pop. The entire subassembly was given a sealing coat of Future, a few placard decals added, another coat of Future, and a dirty wash of AMMO of Mig Jimenez 1614 Neutral Brown

Assembly

Vallejo colours along with some drybrushing here and there. The headrest was brush painted with Vallejo Black followed by a light airbrushing of XF-63 German Grey to add some variation. I used the sponge method to apply some chipping with Citadel Mithryl Silver in trafficked areas and on the seat.

With the cockpit ready for installation it was time to tackle those fuselage halves. Having assembled each fuselage half with all of its various inserts, very little filler was needed for them. Be sure to eliminate all of the seams, as none of the inserts fall along panel lines. The panels in front of the exhaust openings are a little too thin resulting in them being a little sunken in, so I trimmed a square of styrene to put behind the inserts to space them out and then sanded flush. The fuselage halves were joined with Tamiya Extra Thin and the gaps were filled with CA. At this time I went ahead and painted the areas behind the cockpit in Olive Drab. Moving on to the nose we are greeted with more inserts - the upper intake scoop and lower radiator face - but these fit in place with much less hassle. One handy piece I came across was a seamless intake from the Polish company Department Of Correction. The casting is excellent and the fit is perfect,

If you install the fuselage inserts to their respective halves to avoid a step you are left with these gaps that are simple to fill

Main airframe parts assembled with no filler required aside from the fuselage inserts

As a primer of sorts, I gave the model a thin coat of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey to check for mistakes

Cockpit installs with no fuss, and you can see the gap in the parts behind the cockpit is easily dealt with using CA

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Mr Color Hemp was used as a substitute for ANA Sand, and likewise faded like the Azure Blue underside

Mr Color RAF Azure Blue was sprayed and then various fading done with a lightened shade of the base color

Insignia painted and faded to match the finish of the rest of the paint work Miracle Paint Masks were used for the insignia, strips of paper along the edges allow for easier placement and removal of the masks

sliding right into place using the kit locator tabs and everything! This was painted up and installed saving a lot of time trying to clean up the kit parts and yielding a result better than I could have achieved. The rest of assembly was pretty straightforward and typical Hasegawa. The wings went together nicely, including the underwing and leading edge inserts for the guns, the latter being drilled out by hand. There was a bit of a gap at the wing root but this was easily remedied with a spreader bar made from sprue. Tail planes, rudder, cowl flaps, and other small parts were attached, followed by the clear parts and everything was masked in preparation for paint.

Paint and Markings

Profiles for this bird vary from source to source, so I did my best to wade through period photos and make my best guess for how it should be painted. Some sources said the underside color was Neutral Grey while others called for Azure Blue. Looking at photos, it was easy to see why there was some confusion as the color is not easily discernible, so in the end I chose the more colourful option. I generally don't use a dedicated primer, per se, but I started off by giving the whole plane a light coat of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey.

Fuselage codes and fin flash were sprayed like the insignia, the red spinner adds some more colour to the scheme

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BarracudaCals' decals performed flawlessly for the eyecatching art on this bird.

The underside was then sprayed with Mr Color C370 RAF Azure Blue and faded with a lightened mix of the base color. The topside camouflage was handled in the same fashion, with Gunze Mr Color H336 Hemp acting as a substitute for ANA Sand. The camouflage demarcation in my reference photos looked soft, so I sprayed these freehand. Using a properly thinned mix and my Iwata HP-B Plus airbrush, it's easy to get a nice tight line between the colours. For the markings I chose to use BarracudaCals excellent Cartograf-printed sheet BC48007, "P-40K Warhawks Part 1", in combination with Miracle Paint Masks. The masks were used first for the national insignia, fin flash, and fuselage codes. These were sprayed with custom mixes of Tamiya paints lightened and faded like the camouflage colours. After a few thin coats of Future to gloss up the plane, the decals went down flawlessly. A bit of slicing along panel lines with a sharp No.11 blade and an application of Solvaset later, the decals settled perfectly into the surface detail. The artwork on this plane is eye-catching with the scorpion on both sides of the nose and the skull and fez on the port side of the fuselage and rudder. I sealed the decals with another coat of Future and it was time to dirty things up a bit.

Weathering and Final Touches

The Warhawks of the 64th FS got pretty

The base of the exhaust stain was built up with heavilythinned Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown

filthy, but I chose to depict mine fairly early on in deployment so weathering was kept to a minimum. I did some minor chipping in the wing root and leading edges using Citadel Mithryl Silver and a sponge. To make the panel lines and rivets pop, I turned again to AMMO's PLW line of washes. I used the same 1614 Neutral Brown wash that I used in the cockpit and it performed equally well here. These washes are very forgiving and give you plenty of time to work, capillary action takes care of most of the work, and excess can simply be wiped away with a cotton bud or cloth. If you mess up it can be cleaned up with a brush damp with enamel thinner. At this point I gave the model a coat of AK-Interactive's Ultra Matte Varnish, and I got started on the exhaust stains. For this I used Tamiya acrylics thinned with 91% isopropyl alcohol. It would be more appropriate to refer to it as tinted alcohol, as the ratio is at least 10:1 alcohol to paint. I start out with Tamiya

The exhaust was finished with equally thin Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey

★ Unmasked and mocked up, the plane comes to life in my favourite step of the build

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Ultracast’s resin wheels are a vast improvement over the kit parts

Mr Surfacer 500 was applied to the 500lb bomb with a brush and stippled to give the textured finish

The wheels and bomb were weathered with Vallejo acrylics

Ultracast’s resin exhausts were given a coat of Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black followed by washes of AMMO Light Rust and a light dry-brushing of Vallejo Neutral Grey

XF-64 Red Brown to make the initial outline of the stain, slowly building up the effect. I incrementally added small amounts of XF19 Sky Grey as I move toward the heavier part of the stain. The heavily thinned mix provides lots of control over the effect. The fiddly bits are all that remain now, most of which I had painted along the way with the rest of the model to avoid loading the airbrush with the same color more times than necessary. I opted to replace the kit wheels with resin parts from Ultracast. These were airbrushed XF-63 German Grey, then the tires were masked and the hubs were sprayed with Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab along with the 500lb bomb which was given a textured finish with stippled Mr Surfacer 500. The wheels and bomb were given acrylic washes of Vallejo browns and tans to simulate desert grime. The gear legs were sprayed with various shades of Alclad and after a coat of Future, the undercarriage was given a wash of, again, AMMO 1614 Neutral Brown. Ultracast's resin exhausts were given a coat of Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black followed by washes of AMMO Light Rust and a light dry-brushing of Vallejo Neutral Grey. The spinner was sprayed with Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red toned down with a bit of XF-10 Flat Brown. The propeller blade tips were painted yellow and masked off, then the shot with Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black, faded

Ready for final assembly

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with XF-63 German Grey, and got some light chipping with sponge-applied Citadel Mithryl Silver. All was then glossed, decaled, washed, and flat coated. With everything ready, completion was a matter of attaching all of the fiddly bits. The gear legs fit into place with a positive lock and sat at just the right angle. The Ultracast exhausts slid right into place and

didn't even require any glue to stay in place, but of course I used some anyway. I used AMMO's Crystal Colors over silver for the navigation lights, a brushfriendly option that is quite convincing. Lastly, I rigged up the aerial wires with EZ-Line, which in hindsight I should have split in half for a better scale thickness, or just used Uschi's rigging line instead. ■

FINAL VERDICT Hasegawa’s P-40 family is a little tricky, but with some careful planning and elbow grease it builds up into a nice kit. Now I have a Warhawk under my belt, and I just might build another in the future...

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KIT BUILD SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

SPECIFICATION:

Zvezda 1/72 IL-2 Stormovik Kit No. 7279 Materials. IM Price guide. £10.00 Availability. All good model shops

BEFORE STARTING:

● Alclad Grey Primer and Microfiller ● Rocket Medium Cyanoacrylate ● Tamiya Liquid Adhesive ● Formula 560 Canopy Glue ● Tamiya Masking tape ● Jammy Dog Masking tape ● Tweezers ● Micromesh System ● X-Acto scalpel ● Perfect Putty ● Microscale Sol ● Microscale Set ● Alclad ALC310 Klear Kote Gloss ● Alclad ALC313 Klear Kote Matte ● Klear ● Flexifile ● Flexifile sanding sticks (medium & fine)

PAINTS USED:

Alclad Gunmetal (ALC-xxx) Alclad Pale burnt metal (ALC-xxx) Mr Hobby H343 soot Mr Hobby H78 Olive Drab Mr Hobby H317 Gray Mr Hobby H12 Flat Black Mr Hobby H8 Silver Mr Paint AMT7 (MRP-18) Mr Paint AMT4 (MRP-17) Mr Paint AMT6 (MRP-16) Tamiya X19 Smoke Tamiya XF2 Flat White Tamiya XF64 Red Brown Lifecolour FS31302 (LC-06)

AIRBRUSH USED: Iwata HP-B+ Iwata CR

REFERENCES:

IL-2 Sturmovik Red Avenger. Jason Nicholas Moore Ilyushin IL-2 ‘Sturmovik’. Oleg Rastrenin

BUILT AND WRITTEN BY BOB EDWARDS

VASSILYS ILLYUSHA L

We take a look at Zvezda’s intriguing, 1:72 IL-2

ooking at the box for the first time drew out the first of many questions with this offering from Zvezda, ‘what exactly is it’? Obviously it was not a single seat and the mention of ‘1942’ on the box pointed the finger at an IL-2M but there was nothing actually stating this. On opening the box, this theory is verified by the wings which have a straight leading edge. Later versions had swept back wings (often referred to as ‘arrows’ or the ‘2M3’). The kit has two very famous build options, 25 White, ‘The Avenger’ and 100 white flown by Vassily Emelyananko. This kit serves as a fantastic example of why you should research the available options before committing to the build if you want something remotely accurate. The problem is the ‘avenger’ was an arrow. As mentioned above, the kit does not have the correct wings for this variant. Happily ‘White 100’ was a 2M variant but ignore both

the decals and the painting instructions for this one as they are inaccurate. The camouflage scheme should be the hard-edged. two-tone black and green. Fortunately, my references had an accurate scheme for 100 white which I duly applied. Early (1942) IL-2M machines left the factory with the black/green camouflage scheme and the plain red soviet star. The squadrons often painted white or silver, black or sometimes yellow outlines on these stars to enable them to be more visible on the new camouflage. This outline also grew in thickness with each year the war progressed. Given that the decals are for a machine from the early war years, the late war ‘victory stars’ with the red outline, are completely wrong. Also, the font used for the bort (‘side’) number is a complete mystery and bears no resemblance to the actual aircraft bort number. Due to these deficiencies the decals used on the build consist of a mix of kit supplied decals, early war stars from AML Decals and some Kits World

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number decals sourced from my stash which matched my references fairly well, albeit a touch on the small side. As always, I started with a dry fit which went well. The main lesson learned here was that the top wing sections should be attached first. This ensures the correct wing dihedral and also an absolutely seamless join. Fitting the underside sections later does however leave a gap which needs some attention, but I have certainly seen worse. It was possible to achieve a good fuselage marry up but it was immediately obvious that the fuselage halves would need to be glued and clamped in several stages to achieve alignment. During the fit, I noticed aileron balances on the wing tips. My initial thought was that these were a legacy of the Zvezda single seat kit and that surgery would be required to remove these weights and the associated fairings. Before committing to surgery I returned back to my references and was quickly rewarded. The 2M was designed with wooden outer wings due to material shortages however ‘White 100’ was produced at the Zavod 18 plant which had lost the capability to produce wooden laminates due to enemy action, so was forced to use the original metal wing production line. The fact that the wings were metal was a real bonus. If you wanted to build a machine built at another IL2 plant, there would be a significant amount of filling and sanding to remove panel lines! Building proper starts with the tub which is extremely basic, but as this is not particularly visible, detail is not required. The gun pit is a different story though. The IL-2M was produced with a tunnel canopy at the rear for the gunner. Crews often removed the rear section in order to increase the field of fire for the rear gun, ‘100 White’ being one such aircraft. I scratched up some structural detail from styrene strips and a CO2 bottle was also made up from a piece of sprue with lead wire attachment hoops. The gunner sat on a leather strap which was fashioned from a strip of tape and lead wire. The key detail was the UBT gun itself. Whilst the gun supplied with the kit is adequate, I added a UBT machine gun from Mini World which is simply exquisite. This addition required some minor modifications to remove the kits gun attachment points and provide the U shaped gun rail but the effort was well worth it. Options are provided for stores, which look to be R-82 and R-132 rockets and a pair of 100 kg bombs. The need to change the wing shape of the later IL-2M3 was due to handling issues manifest by the addition of the rear seat. The IL-2M had to make do with interim measures to achieve an acceptable centre of gravity. This included a reduction in payload

and reducing the outboard rocket rails from 4 to 2. The kit has all four stations provisioned so the holes for the two furthest outboard stations need to be filled. The rails themselves are pretty crude and could be improved. As I was fitting the larger R-132 rockets, the rails were largely hidden anyway but if you wanted to fit the smaller ordnance, I would consider scratch building an alternative. The IL-2 crew members were separated by a fuel tank which was protected by armour plate. This is not provided with the kit so I made my own from thin styrene sheet. It’s worth noting that the kit has the fuel tank too far aft. Unfortunately, I was too far into the build to modify it. The fuselage and wing assemblies went together very well as predicted by the dry fit and with a small amount of remedial cosmetic work, the build was ready for paint. Russian paint schemes and their colours are a notorious question mark in the modelling community and the forums rife with opinions and advice. I believe that there is now a very real answer to this bone of contention in the form of Mr Paint laquer based paints. These paints offer a range of Russian colours and in my opinion, are very accurate. The belly was finished with Mr Paint AMT7 (MRP-18) and the two tone upper with Mr Paint AMT4 (MRP-17) and AMT6 (MRP-16). Applied over a base of Alclad grey primer, the paints went on beautifully. The model could be handled within minutes and I used Tamiya masking tape within half an hour with no impact on the paint whatsoever. As far as I am

concerned, Mr Paint has set a new standard. I had mixed results trying to lighten or darken the paint to provide panel definition though. I ended up masking off various panels and spraying them with Mr Hobby acrylic paints in various shades approximately matching the Mr Paint base colour before post shading with Mr Hobby Olive Dab (H78). It seems that Mr Paint can however be diluted with Mr Hobby levelling thinner so I used this to create thin filter coats which blended everything together very well. Once painted, the entire model was coated in Alclad ALC310 gloss prior to applying the above mentioned decals and a MiG dark panel wash. I kept the weathering as minimal as possible as the IL-2 attrition rate was typically one in 24 sorties but with up to six sorties a day, key areas such as munitions bay panels and walkways quickly became worn. These areas were ‘chipped’ using a silver pencil. Key panels were also masked off and sprayed with a thin coat of Tamiya smoke (X19), which was also used on the radiator outlet. The signature upturned exhaust stain was usually very evident. This was simulated using Tamiya red brown (XF-64) and Mr Hobby Soot (H343). The interior, including the wheel bays and undercarriage were painted with Mr Paint AMT 14 with the exception of the fabric wheel bay doors which were typically silver (Mr Hobby H8). The whole model was finished off with a few coats of Alclad ALC313 matt coat prior to de masking the canopy and fitting that lovely UBT machine gun. Job done. ■

FINAL VERDICT This really isn’t a bad little kit. With a bit of care it builds up well and whilst it suffers from a few issues, there is nothing that requires a disproportionate amount of work. Given the low price of the kit, it does in fact represent value for money in my opinion. The only thing that lets this kit down is the decal options. The kit would be greatly enhanced if it were issued as a definitive straight winged twin seat with viable decals. If you decide to go down the aftermarket route for decals, make sure you research the particular aircraft to ascertain whether it has wooden or metal wings.

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NEW RELEASE - KITS

HOBBYBOSS 1:48 SU-27 FLANKER B

Scale: 1:48/HobbyBoss/Materials: IM/ Kit No: 81711/All Good Model Shops/Price Guide: £49.99

T

his is the second in the Flanker series produced by Hobby Boss in 1:48 and follows on from the Chinese J-11b which Drewe built in last September’s issue (Issue 134). Obviously many parts are shared between both kits however having not seen the previous boxing of the Chinese variant I will give my thoughts on this kit with a fresh pair of eyes. First off, accuracy. It’s fair to say they have somewhat garnered an unwelcome reputation for producing kits with questionable shapes and details, so the good news is that the overall shape and dimensions are pretty much spot-on. In common with the J-11b kit, the inlets at the base of the fins are equal in size, where the righthand side should be smaller (a minor detail which only the fastidious will care about). The tail bullet fairing will pass muster for the vast majority, however, Flanker experts may wish to slightly alter the shape of the end of the sides and alter the lumps and bumps ever so slightly. Drewe Manton reported the angle of the gear wells is off slightly and so I’m assuming that that issue is the same here as well. Other than that it looks to be an accurate replica of this aircraft. On opening the sizeable box the modeller will

be greeted with both top and bottom fuselage/wing mouldings attached to a card insert, via plastic ties. I really love HobbyBoss/Trumpeter’s approach to packaging and other manufacturers could well learn a lesson here. These main mouldings reveal exquisite detail, pin-sharp panel lines and delicate rivets. Static dischargers are protected by sections of runner, but as I found with GWH MiG-29s this is no guarantee against my hamfistedness! The beautiful surface detail is replicated on the fins and tail, with the bullet aerials on the trailing edge being a particular highlight (and accurate!). Lovely. Separately deployed slats and flaps will add dynamism, a configuration shown in most photos of parked aeroplanes I’ve seen. The dorsal airbrake is designed to be deployed, a configuration only really seen on landing, but as Drewe demonstrated, it’s not too onerous to glue it closed. Cockpit is not exactly bijou, but detail is adequate, as are the exhausts (open or closed options). Resin replacements would be welcome for those who wish to up the detail levels a bit and I’ll be adding the inevitable Eduard photo-etch to elevate the finesse still further, even though photo-etched mirrors are included on the tiny fret. Two types of instrument

panel are included although only the earlier panel is required, a hint at later variants to come. The sevenpart seat is about as good as it gets for plastic, close the canopy and it’s more than adequate. Undercarriage looks good, only the myriad of hosing and wiring is missing which isn’t surprising. Wheels and replicated with plastic hubs and rubber tyres. Many modellers hate them but actually I quite like them, all they need is a scrub with a sanding sponge and they come up great. Pylons are appropriate for this version and nicely detailed, with the option of wingtip missile rails or ECM pods. Multipart R-73E, R-27R and R-27ER missiles complete the ordnance and are nicely done, although there’s always the option of ‘guilding the lily’ with resin replacements. Only two decal options are included: one in twotone camouflage and the other, three-tone. Both are a little bland, although the two-tone option does have a splash of colour at the base of the fin. Having used HobbyBoss/Trumpeter decals many times, they should perform well although I have a Begemot sheet which will come in handy.

VERDICT Overall then this is a really good package from Hobby Boss and will be a sizeable presence on the shelf or at club meets/shows. It’s around £50 which is comparable to the GWH MiG-29s so I think that pretty fair value, although adding resin and photo-etch for those who want to add to the adequate will obviously bump that up. Given Drewe’s endorsement from how the J-11b went together I can highly recommend this kit. I will be going in headlong, building this for the magazine when the photo-etch and resin arrives (yep, I want it all) as I love a subject I can get my weathering teeth into and some of these aeroplanes look particularly scruffy. Stay tuned. (Jamie Haggo)

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NEW FROM DOOLITTLE MEDIA

The Modeller’s Guide

Superdetailing, Painting and Weathering

Aircraft of WWII, with airfield accessories, ordnance and diorama

Aleksandar Pocuc

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SCALE MODELLING: A LOVE STORY READY TO ASSEMBLE TOOLS AND MATERIALS TECHNIQUES BUILDING THE AIRCRAFT ■ SPITFIRE MK. IXC ■ P-47D THUNDERBOLT ■ JU-87D ‘STUKA’ MAKING A DIORAMA

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P001 - WWII AIRCRAFT BOOK copy.indd 1

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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

LUFTWAFFE EAGLES OVER IRELAND - THE STORY OF GERMAN AIR CRASHES OVER NEUTRAL IRELAND 1940 - 1945

● By Justin Horgan and Paddy Cummins ● Published by Horgan Press ● Guide Price £37.99 ● ISBN: 978-0-9955530-0-2 ● 396pp hardback, 310 x 215mm

T

hose interested in the war in the air during WWII will find that we have a new topic to interest them. Many campaigns have been covered extensively but the subject of

this book will be new to almost everyone. The Irish Republic remained neutral during WWII but became involved in the conflict indirectly by being near to the action. The authors tell the story of more than twenty incidents where German aircraft came to grief on Irish soil. Further chapters provides information on the background to that time in Ireland and also takes a look the conditions under which German airmen were kept and then the time following German’s defeat. Compare the German airmen’s conditions in captivity where they could go to the local pub, the horse races and cook cakes and doughnuts for the local shop to sell with how allied airmen were treated. Some of the Germans were reluctant to go home after the war but were forced to do so. Some returned to Ireland from Germany and settled in the Emerald Isle for the rest of their lives. The incidents fall generally two categories: straight crashes and forced landings. Some Luftwaffe aircraft would become lost over Irish territory and hit high ground in poor weather conditions, others would take combat damage and be forced to crash land. Although both Luftwaffe and RAF aircraft should not be flying over Irish territory, there was little the Irish could do to stop them. As well as the mainly German incidents, a handful of similar RAF incidents are described. One mentions a Hurricane that belly-landed in a field following an attack on German aircraft over the Irish Sea. The pilot became separated

from the rest of the flight, became lost, almost out of fuel and elected to land his aircraft in what he thought was a Welsh farmer’s field. A young boy approached from the nearby farmhouse and told the surprised pilot that he was in fact in neutral Ireland. The authors go into great depth when describing the various incidents. Each incident will involve both the aircrew and those who become involved in the ground in the vicinity of the crash. These will be local farmers, villagers, police and Irish Army. Many of these people are shown in photos so that we are drawn-in and see the full picture of those involved along with photos of relics, crash sites – then and now. Many pages reproduce German and Irish records, newspaper cuttings, etc. from the time of the accident. Several interned German officers would be promoted while in Irish custody and we see copies of their citations, etc. These stories make fascinating reading. This is an excellent book and will appeal to a wide variety of readers from those interested in aviation history, WWII and those people in the Irish Republic who now live in the places where the incidents took place or who are related to people (on both sides) mentioned in the text. It is good to see that as well as the quality of the reading, the quality of production is also worthy of mention. We rarely see print and binding done to such a high standard. Thanks to the Aviationbookcentre.com for supplying this lovely book for review. See their web site for availability.

AXIS AIRCRAFT IN LATIN AMERICA ● By Amaru Tincopa and Santiago Rivas ● Published by Hikoki/Crécy Publishing Limited ● Guide Price £34.95 ● ISBN 978-1-90210-949-7 ● 368pp hardback, 305 x 220mm

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his book takes us back to the early days of aviation in South America. The period covered is from the 1920s to the early 1950s and the vast majority of the types mentioned are civil aircraft. They range from small single engine types to the large four-engine Fw Condor and even the Graf Zeppelin. The Zeppelin was used for a short time to fly passengers from Europe to Brazil, a trip that took three days and cost an eye-watering US$450 in the early 1930s. Aircraft able to land on water feature often throughout the book. Flying in South America was a hazardous business with

few airfields, questionable reliability of the machinery and vast areas of jungle where emergency landings were out of the question and post crash survival unlikely. The authors look at South American aviation country by country. Many black and white photos with the occasional colour profile support the text. The types of aircraft used in South America are mainly split between German and Italian with the odd one from other nations such as Japan. A chapter towards the end of the book makes interesting reading where we learn that several prominent members of the German aviation industry during WWII flee from Europe to live in Argentina and Brazil. Famous names such as engineer and designer Kurt Tank and Reimar Horten, famous pilots Adolf Galland and Hans Ulrich Rudel are mentioned. These people escaped capture by the Russians and the allies and took refuge in South America for a time. Galland would spend time training

Argentine jet pilots and teaching tactics learned during the war. Some of the projects that would come forth from these designers and engineers are mentioned including more Horten flying wing designs. At the end of the book we find lists of axis aircraft types by country showing when the aircraft were delivered, how they were used and their ultimate fate including an Arado Ar 95 written-off after hitting a herd of cows on the runway at Puerto Montt. An amazing amount of research work must have been involved in this part of the book alone. I take my hat off to the authors of this excellent, hefty and fascinating piece of work.

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THE FIESELER FI 156 – AIRFRAME ALBUM NO.11 - A DETAILED GUIDE TO THE LUFTWAFFE’S VERSATILE STORCH ● By Richard A. Franks ● Published by Valiant Wings Publishing Ltd ● Guide Price £17.95 ● ISBN 978-0-9935345-6-0 ● 128pp softback, 297 x 210mm

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he Fieseler Storch is a remarkable aircraft from the 1930 that was used by several air forces during WWII and a good number of nations after the war ended. Examples are preserved in reasonable numbers and one can be seen regularly at air shows in the UK in the summer. Its performance is remarkable and shows that the design is very, very good at the job it was intended to carry out. Its gravity-defying performance has to be-seen-to-be-believed. The Storch takes off in a very short distance and can virtually hover when flown into a breeze and then land almost vertically, given favourable wind conditions. This book opens with chapters on the Storch’s background and introduction into service with a surprisingly long list of nations operating the type. Some were captured aircraft but countries such as Sweden who purchased some examples before WWII, were customers. Almost half the book concentrates on the technical specification of the aircraft. Using photos of preserved aircraft, old photos and technical drawings we are shown every aspect of the Storch in fine detail. Anyone building a kit will find plenty of information from which to build a super-detailed model.

Ten pages of line drawings show the evolution of the Storch including the versions built in France and Czechoslovakia following the fall of Germany in 1945. The Camouflage and Markings chapter covers the long list of German units who operated the Storch in all theatres and the many countries operating the Storch both during and after WWII. The variations are illustrated with lovely colour profiles as well as contemporary photos, some in colour. Those who would like to build a Storch will be particularly interested in the final main part of this book where we find three full build reviews of Storch kits. The two 1:72 build are from the Smer (ex-Heller) and Academy boxes with the superb 1:48 scale Tamiya kit. Each review is comprehensive with step-by-step photos supporting the text. The final pages give us lists of Storch kits released over the years, the accessories, decals and further references for those who wish to delve further into the Storch story. This is a must-have book for those intending to build a Storch kit but is still an interesting read for those interested in WWII aircraft as a general topic. Thanks to Valiant Wings for providing their latest Airframes Album for review. Valiant Wings attend several model shows during the year with their range of titles or see their web site (valiant-wings.co.uk) or specialist book suppliers for availability.

AIRFILE 13 - THE CONDOR LEGION IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR 1936 - 1939 ● Compiled By Neil Robinson and illustrated by Peter Scott ● Published by Guideline Publications ● Guide Price £19.00 ● ISBN 978-1-908565-31-0 ● 72pp softback, 297 x 210mm

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hile I was aware that the Condor Legion was used by the Germans as something of a dress rehearsal for their air campaign in WWII, I was not aware of just how large an operation it was. The numbers brought to our attention by Neil Robinson are surprising to me to say the least. Around five hundred German aircraft took part, supported by twenty thousand men, both German and Spanish. About seventeen million kilos of bombs were dropped and over four million rounds of machine gun ammunition fired. From the early beginnings when Germany sent Ju 52s to ferry General Franco’s troops from North Africa to Spain, German involvement quickly gathered pace. This book looks at the various types of aircraft, starting with fighters. During the campaign some types were at the end of their useful lives such as the Heinkel He 51. We then see new ones such as the Messerschmitt 109 series begin their combat careers. As well as new aircraft, there are the new crews. During the

years of the Condor Legion new fighting tactics would be honed and more effective camouflage schemes tried and evaluated. Each type is described in the copy with contemporary photos and then shown in several pages of excellent colour profiles showing units and camouflage schemes. Early versions of the Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 would see service in Spain, gaining experience that would prove invaluable at the beginning of WWII. Versions of He 111 used in Spain would be superseded by the familiar all-glazed nose versions that would be used in the blitz. Early versions of Ju 87 Stuka would be used in Spain within two years of the type’s first flight. Towards the end of the book, we see the aircraft used for maritime patrol and reconnaissance and finally liaison types such as the Storch and Bf 108 see their first operations in a combat theatre. This excellent book gives us an overview of the action in the Spanish Civil War and how the Germans became embroiled in the conflict and used the experience gained to be several steps ahead of the allies at the beginning of WWII. For those modellers looking for something different to do with kits of late 1930s German aircraft, this book will provide plenty of inspiration. Thanks to Guideline for providing their new Airfile volume for review. The book is available direct from Guideline (guidelinepublications.co.uk) or from specialist suppliers.

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SOVIET AND RUSSIAN MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN THE AMERICAS ● By Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov ● Published by Hikoki Publications Ltd ● Guide Price £34.95 ● ISBN 978-1-90210-954-1 ● 304pp hardback, 305 x 220mm

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’ve never, so far, opened a Hikoki book and been disappointed by what I have found within the covers. This is typical of the brand with interesting text, great photos and superb artwork. The second and most surprising section of this book describes the vast number of Soviet and Russian aircraft in the USA. This is preceded by a couple of pages showing a handful of aircraft used in Canada. It takes over one hundred pages to tell the story of the Soviet and Russian aircraft operated in the USA. The lists of Soviet and Russian aircraft at the end of the chapter runs to thirteen pages. Many of these well-known aircraft were operated by the military in various roles and then several pages of Warbird types follow. Soviet and Russian aircraft found their way to the USA via three main routes: captured by US forces during wars, loaned by friendly nations or bought from nations who were retiring their Russian aircraft. The list is long and varied one of the first being a Korean IL-10 followed by several Yak piston engine fighters and then the first of the MiG jets. A MiG-15bis is seen being tested by Chuck Yeager. This chapter is illustrated by

many photos with some unusual (to say the least) formations such as a pair of MiG-21s with a pair of Tomcats and a pair of F-5Es in company with a MiG-17 and MiG-21. More recent types such as Flankers are also flying in the USA. Transport types from the An-2 to the IL-78. Helicopter types are from the Hind to the Hokum, aptly named ‘Double Trouble’ are used by the Army and have been used in the Middle East by US Special Forces during operations. This makes for really fascinating reading supported by superb photos. The old Soviet Union and more recently Russia supplied several South American nations with aircraft. The rest of the book takes a look at the aircraft operated in more ‘normal’ circumstances. We start with a few paragraphs and photos of Costa Rican Mi-17s and move on to the Cuban Air Force. Cuba has been allied to Russia since the communist take-over and has operated a wide range of Russian aircraft up to their current fleet of MiG-29s. We are shown all of the nations using Russian aircraft, ending with Venezuela, operating several types over the years to their current Flanker versions, transports and Mil helicopters. This book is a really fascinating read and will appeal to many. This is great modeller’s reference material from start to finish. Now there is a good supply of kits of Soviet and Russian aircraft there is a huge number of markings and colour scheme options. Highly recommended.

BLACK BOX CANBERRAS – BRITISH TEST AND TRIALS CANBERRAS 1951-1994 ● By Dave Forster ● Published by Hikoki Publications Ltd ● Guide Price £29.95 ● ISBN 978-1-90210-953-4 ● 256pp hardback, 305 x 220mm

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his book is the result of the author’s twenty-year interest in the Canberra and especially, the ones used in specialist roles. Those readers who have been regular visitors to the Royal International Air Tattoo will remember the arrival of half a dozen aircraft in ‘raspberry ripple’ colour schemes from Boscombe Down. Amongst them would often be a modified Canberra with a long nose or with various other attachments. This book will explain what those and many more modifications are all about. A look through this book will be a real eye-opener when considering just how versatile and useful Canberras have been over the years. Many pieces of flown equipment be it radars, weapons, new engines, etc. have been tested by Canberra crews before being considered for service on any one of many other service aircraft. The Canberra’s large bomb bay and general layout made the Canberra a very able platform for this work. As well as external modifications, much of this work would involve placing additional instrumentation inside the

aircraft for the systems operators and scientists. The various roles are collected into chapters such as Aiming Systems, Engine and Fuel Systems, Air to Surface Weapons, Radio Warfare and Defensive Systems, etc. Each chapter describes the type of equipment being tested and how the work was being carried out, illustrated with good photos, (many published for the first time) of the aircraft and detailed photos of the equipment and diagrams. At the end of the book we are provided with tables showing the Canberras used in the tests and where they were working at the time and those companies controlling the tests. This is a really interesting book, telling us how many of the systems we have heard of in the past made it into service. Many mentioned disappeared into history, never making it further than the testing phase – ever heard of Red Cheeks or Red Dean? Many others such as the Olympus engine, Sea Eagle, many ejection seat types, inflight-refuelling systems would all play an important part in military aviation. For those who would like to modify a Canberra kit to represent one of the test aircraft, you will be spoiled for choice. I wonder what hoops the author would have had to jump through to get approval to publish some of this material that no doubt as top secret, back in the day.

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BRITISH SECRET PROJECTS – BRITAIN’S SPACE SHUTTLE ● By Dan Sharp ● Published by Crécy Publishing Ltd ● Guide Price £27.70 ● ISBN 978-1-91080-902-0 ● 264pp hardback, 290 x 220mm

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his book is full of surprises. It is the story of MUSTARD (Multi-Unit Space Transport and Recovery Device), Britain’s proposed Space Shuttle. I have never heard of any of this but an illustration of the proposed vehicle was published in Look and Learn in 1978. I missed that one at the time. Much of the design work was carried out by English Electric who were responsible for the Lightning and Canberra. Both aircraft would play an important role in the post war RAF. In the 1950s English Electric were continuing to look into high-speed flight and taking their research and experience a step further, into vehicles capable of space travel. As we look through the pages, we see designs that look very familiar such as the English Electric P.30M, a Mach 2.5 airliner that looked very much like Concorde. The drawings for this concept are dated 1958. Many of the old drawings are reproduced and many have been converted into superb colour artwork so that we can see a realistic image of the vehicle. Vehicles that would launch into space from the top of a rocket as well

as ones that would be carried to height on a conventional jet are all discussed. The final orbiter designs look every bit as capable as the American Space Shuttle. This book is a fascinating read. We see dozens of interesting drawings, many of which are appearing in print for the first time. An amazing amount of work has gone into producing this book. During the research process, the author Dan Sharp, turned up several projects that had been kept very quiet at the time. We can only lament the fact that the United Kingdom was left behind in the space race when our engineers were thinking so far ahead in the 1950s and 1960s. Highly recommended.

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FRENCH SECRET PROJECTS – POST WAR FIGHTERS ● By Jean-Christophe Carbonel ● Published by Crécy Publishing Ltd ● Guide Price £27.50 ● ISBN 978-1-91080-900-6 ● 280pp hardback, 290 x 220mm

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he French aviation industry was in a state of disarray following the German occupation for the duration of WWII. This book shows how the French aircraft industry picked-up the pieces and progressed from almost a standing start to be a major supplier to many air forces throughout the world. During the German occupation of France, some aircraft company designers were still able to carry out low-key work despite being under close scrutiny by the Germans. During this time, several innovative designs were stolen by the Germans to help their own war effort. Following the introductions, etc., the first chapter looks at how the French began to make progress with jet engine design.

This chapter sets the pattern for what follows. We see old photos, diagrams and engineering drawings used to support the text. Many of the illustrations are published for the first time or have been only seen rarely before. The four following chapters split the projects by propulsion types – propellers, jets, rockets and ramjets. Some unlikely-looking designs managed to make it all the way to a flying prototype before being consigned to history. We can see some features that would be included in very successful designs in future years. One ramjet fighter had a plan view very similar to a Typhoon and used an undercockpit air intake similar to that on a Typhoon or F-16. Later we see Dassault emerge from the pack to become a world-class aircraft company with types such as the F1, Mirage III, Mirage IV, Mirage 2000 and Rafale. Towards the back of this book we are shown the less mainstream projects such at VTOL aircraft with tail-sitter projects and more conventional shapes with lift engines. Finally, we see some swing-wing designs with one dating from 1964 looking remarkably like an F-111. This is another very interesting addition to Crécy’s growing list of Secret Projects titles that will appeal to a wide range of aviation enthusiasts. Thanks to Crécy for supplying their five recent aviation title releases for review. See their web site, crécy.co.uk for more details and availability. (Alan Firbank)

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NEW RELEASES: DECALS

XTRADECAL www.hannants.co.uk

We have an interesting mix of new decals from Xtradecal this month. We have WWII Luftwaffe, WWII Fleet Air Arm and two sets aimed at the recently released Airfix 1:72 Victor and the eagerly anticipated 1:48 Sea Fury. There are other 1:48 Sea Fury kits around but we expect the new one from Airfix to eclipse any previous releases.

HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR COLLECTION (SHEET NO. X72265) No less than twelve sets of markings for 1:72 kits for the massive four-engine Victor. All of the options on the sheet are finished in the same paintwork: a pattern of Dark Green and Medium Sea Grey on the upper surfaces with white undersides. The markings cover one and a bit decal sheets, a few day-glo markings appear to stand out from the sheet. A set of two-colour roundels is supplied to go on any one of three of the options. ● Victor K.Mk.1A, XH588 with No. 55 Squadron at RAF Marham in April, 1970. ● Victor K.Mk.1, XA938 with No. 214 Squadron at RAF Marham in 1968. ● Victor K.Mk.1, XH618 with No. 57 Squadron at RAF Marham in September 1967. ● Victor K.Mk.1, XA928 with No. 57 Squadron at RAF Marham in the 1970s. ● Victor B(K).Mk.1A, XH615 with the ‘Marham’ Pool in 1975. ● Victor B(K).Mk.1A, XH593 with No. 232 Squadron at RAF Marham in 1975. ● Victor B(K).Mk.1, XA940 with the Tanker Training Flight at RAF Marham in 1969. ● Victor B(SR).Mk.2, XM715 with No. 543 Squadron at RAF Wyton in June 1966. ● Victor K.Mk.1, XA936 with No. 214 Squadron at RAF Marham in 1975. ● Victor B.Mk.1A, XH592 with 232 OCU at RAF Marham in 1972. ● Victor B.Mk.2, XL513 with No 139 Squadron at RAF Wittering in February 1964. ● Victor B(SR).Mk.2, XL193 with No. 543 Squadron at RAF Wyton in September 1972.

FAIREY BARRACUDA COLLECTION (SHEET NO. X72267) The Barracuda is one of the most maligned and possibly underrated aircraft that the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm ever used. This set of ten markings options will be idea for those who bought the recent 1:72 kit from Special Hobby. There are several styles of national markings needed and all are supplied on the sheet. Unless stated otherwise, the colour schemes are a pattern of Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces with Sky Type S undersides. ● Barracuda Mk.II, PM953 ‘371/A’ with No. 812 Naval Air Squadron, FAA on HMS Vengeance in December 1945. ● Barracuda Mk.II, P9742 ‘3B’ with No 847 Naval Air Squadron, FAA on HMS Victorious in April 1944. ● Barracuda Mk.II, LS628 ‘4F’ with No. 831 Naval Air Squadron, FAA on HMS Furious taking part in the attack on the Turpitz on 3rd April 1944. ● Barracuda Mk.II, P9981 ‘2X’ with No. 810 Naval Air Squadron, FAA on HMS Illustrious in April 1944. ● Barracuda Mk.II, MD892 ‘R3M’ with No. 713 Naval Air Squadron, FAA at RNAS Ronaldsway, Isle of Man April 1944. ● Barracuda Mk.II, MD711 ‘E-IL’ with No. 767 Naval Air Squadron, FAA at RNAS East Haven, Scotland, 1944. ● Barracuda Mk.II, BV760 ‘P’ with No. 1700 Naval Air Squadron, FAA when based at RNAS Katukurunda, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in December 1945. ● Barracuda TR.Mk.III, RJ765 ‘301/GN’ with No. 815 Naval Air Squadron, FAA at RNAS Eglington, Northern Ireland in the early 1950s. ● Barracuda Mk.III, (serial unknown) ‘R5D’ with No. 710 Squadron Naval Air Service, FAA also at RNAS Ronaldsway, Isle of Man, June 1945. ● Barracuda Mk.III RJ925 with the Joint RAF/RN Torpedo Development Unit at RNAS Culdrose in May 1951. The finish is overall High Speed Silver.

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MESSERSCHMITT ME 262 A1A/U3/A2A AND S-92 (SHEET NO. 72269) Another bumper sheet from Xtradecal with thirteen sets of marking for the German jet, in a wide variety of schemes. As well as the main markings, we have two sets of tiny stencilling, German (including a strip of swastikas), Czech and US stars and bars national markings. ● Me-262 VI+AL (the 6th prototype). The finish is overall RLM 76 Graublau. ● Me 262 A1a White 2 with Ekdo 2 at Lechfeld, Germany in July 1944. The scheme is RLM 74/75/76 with a heavy mottle on the fuselage sides. ● Me 262 A1a White 17 with Ekdo 2 . The scheme is RLM 74/75/76 with a heavy mottle on the fuselage. ● Me 262 A1a White 9 with II.EJG 2. The scheme is a pattern of RLM 82 and RLM 81 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 undersides. ● Me 262 A1a White 1 with Kommando Novotny at Hesepe, Germany, November 1944. The upper surfaces are a pattern of RLM 81 and 82 with RLM 76 undersides. ● Me 262 A1a Red 13 with III./EJG 2 at Lechfeld in Germany in Spring 1945. The camouflage scheme is a pattern of RLM 81 and 82 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 undersides and a red nose. ● Me 262 A1a Yellow 7 with IV./JG 7 at Lechfeld in May 1945. The camouflage pattern is RLM 81 and 82 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76. You can finish this 262 with German or American markings. ● Me 262 A1a Red 1 with Stab III./JG 7 at Brandenburg-Briest in early 1945. RLM 81 and 82 are the upper surface colours with RLM 76 undersides. ● Me 262 A2a +F with I./KG (J/) 51. The scheme is a pattern of RLM 81 and 82 on the upper surfaces with RLM 76 undersides with a very heavy mottle on the fuselage sides. ● Me 262 A2a B3+EK with 2./KG (J) 54 at Giebelstadt, Germany in May 1945. The standard RLM 81/82/76 applies with only a very light mottle on the fuselage sides. ● Me 262 A1a Yellow 5 with KG (J) 6 at Munich-Reim when surrendered in May 1945. The scheme is RLM 81/82/76. ● Me 262 A1a/U3 White 34 with III./EJG 2 at Lechfeld in Germany 1945. The scheme appears to be overall RLM 76 with a very heavy mottle of RLM 81 in the upper surfaces. The nose is black and the undersides of the wings are mainly natural metal. ● S-92, ‘PL-01’ with the Czech Anti-aircraft Establishment in the 1950s. The finish is overall Silver dope.

HAWKER SEA FURY COLLECTION (SHEET NO. X48175) There should be a Sea Fury scheme to suit all tastes on this sheet with six aircraft from which to choose. I can see a good excuse to build two or three 1:48 Airfix Sea Furys when it appears later this year. ● Sea Fury F.B.11 ‘115/NW’ with the Royal Australian Navy at Bankstown in 1968. The scheme is overall Oxford Blue. ● Sea Fury F.B.60 with the Moroccan Air Force at Rabat-Sale in October 1978. The paintwork is overall Silver with a red spinner. ● Sea Fury F.B.11, ‘FAR42’ with the Cuban Air Force in 1969. This Sea Fury is painted overall Dark Green. ● Sea Fury F.B.11, WG629, ‘136/T’ with No. 807 Naval Air Squadron on HMS Theseus in Egypt in June 1952. The scheme is Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces and Sky undersides, extending well up the fuselage sides. There is a set of Suez black and white stripes around the rear fuselage and on the wings, top and bottom. ● Sea Fury F.B.11, TF994, BC-C with No. 803 Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Canadian Navy on HMCS Magnificent in 1948. The colour scheme is Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces and Sky undersides. ● Sea Fury F.B.50 ‘6-16’ with No. 860 Squadron, Royal Netherlands Navy in 1951. The scheme is Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces and Sky undersides, extending well up the fuselage sides.

MESSERSCHMITT ME 262 A1A/U3/A2A AND S-92 (SHEET NO. 48179) Nine of the 262s provided on the 1:72 sheet are repeated on this sheet. ● Me 262 A1a White 17 with Ekdo 2 . The scheme is RLM 74/75/76 with a heavy mottle on the fuselage. ● Me 262 A1a White 9 with II.EJG 2. The scheme is a pattern of RLM 82 and RLM 81 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 undersides. ● Me 262 A1a White 1 with Kommando Novotny at Hesepe, Germany, November 1944. The upper surfaces are a pattern of RLM 81 and 82 with RLM 76 undersides. ● Me 262 A1a Yellow 7 with IV./JG 7 at Lechfeld in May 1945. The camouflage pattern is RLM 81 and 82 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76. You can finish this 262 with German or American markings. ● Me 262 A1a Red 1 with Stab III./JG 7 at Brandenburg-Briest in early 1945. RLM 81 and 82 are the upper surface colours with RLM 76 undersides. ● S-92, ‘PL-01’ with the Czech Anti-aircraft Establishment in the 1950s. The finish is overall Silver dope. ● Me 262 A2a +F with I./KG (J/) 51. The scheme is a pattern of RLM 81 and 82 on the upper surfaces with RLM 76 undersides with a very heavy mottle on the fuselage sides. ● Me 262 A1a Yellow 5 with KG (J) 6 at Munich-Reim when surrendered in May 1945. The scheme is RLM 81/82/76. ● Me 262 A1a/U3 White 34 with III./EJG 2 at Lechfeld in Germany 1945. The scheme appears to be overall RLM 76 with a very heavy mottle of RLM 81 in the upper surfaces. The nose is black and the undersides of the wings are mainly natural metal.

Thanks to Hannants for supplying their new Xtradecal releases. Keep an eye on their web site (www.hannants.co.uk) for new releases and reprints of popular sheets. (Alan Firbank)

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11/10/2016 13:56

EVENTS DIARY Model shows for 2017

April 23rd 2017 ModelKraft 2017 to be held at Stantonbury Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes, MK14 6BN from 10am until 4pm. Large show with some 75 club displays and around 30 trader stands. Refreshements and free parking available. Email: [email protected] Website: www.mksmc.co.uk/

April 29th 2017 Scottish National Scale Model Show 2017 to be held at The Dewars Centre, Glover Street Perth, Scotland PH2 0TH. The Scottish National Scale Model show is the biggest in Scotland with two halls full with traders and exhibitors and a competition and Kit Swap area. So come along and bring the family for a great day out. Refreshments area and free parking available. Find out more at our website

www.scotnats.org or check us out on Facebook 10am to 5pm Saturday and 10am to 4pm Sunday. Email: [email protected] Website: www.scotnats.org

May 14th 2017 IPMS Gloucester Model Show 2017 to be held at Churchdown Community Centre, Parton Road Churchdown, Gloucestershire, GL3 2JH. Great club displays Featuring superb model aircraft, armoured vehicles, figures, cars, motorbikes, etc. Trade stands selling a wide range of kits, books and modelling accessories. Look out for the special show offers. Admission adults: £3.50. Children (15 and under) & Senior Citizens £1.50. Family Ticket £6.00. Email: [email protected]

May 13th 2017

June 10th

Lancing Model Show to be held at the Lancing Parish Hall, 96 South Street, Lancing, BN15 8AJ. Doors open to the Public from 10.00am - 4.00pm. Free entry, donations welcome. Club Displays and Exhibits, Competition, Traders and Refreshments. Please see www.lancingmodelshow.org.uk or email [email protected] for further information

Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA Flying Proms. An English tradition showcasing the beauty of vintage aircraft flying overhead manoeuvres accompanied by live music performed by the symphony Orchestra Of Virgina Beach. Share this evening with family and friends on the grounds of the Military Aviation Museum. Website: www.VBairshow.com

May 19th - 21st

October 6th - 8th

Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA - Warbirds Over The Beach. Annual weekend of re-enactors and action flights of Warbirds form the Second World war, feature the Me262, Lancaster Bomber and the world’s only Flying Mosquito. Vehicles, armour and artillery displays, Warbird flight demonstrations, lots of food and big-band musical entertainment. Website: www.VBairshow.com

Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA Biplanes and Triplanes. Annual week of re-enactors and flights of rarely seen aircraft from the First World war. Celebrate the 100 Year Anniversary of the Great War, among ground re-enactors, lots of food and entertainment from the Roaring Twenties. Website: www.VBairshow.com

78 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - May 2017

EVENT & CONTACTS 142.indd 2

06/04/2017 14:10

CONTACTS

✆

✉

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]

Lela Presse S.A.R.L.

Revell GmbH

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].

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

ICM Holding

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

Issue 142 - www.modelairplaneinternational.com 79

EVENT & CONTACTS 142.indd 3

06/04/2017 14:10

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

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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

MASTERCARD/VISA/SWITCH/PAYPAL/CHEQUES/CASH/POSTAL ORDERS

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ADVERTISE HERE! THIS SPACE COULD BE WORKING FOR YOU.

FOR INFORMATION, CALL SEAN ON 01525 222573 [email protected]

WEBDIRECTORYWEBDIRECTORY www.tamiya.com

www.creativemodels.co.uk

www.hobbyco.net

YOUR WEBSITE HERE!

EagleCals, EagleParts, Library of Eagles and more

call Sean on 01525 222573 [email protected]

www.hyperscale.com

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p 80 Buyers Guide 139.indd 81

04/01/2017 16:23

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SO WHAT’S PLANNED FOR THE NEXT ISSUE?

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GENTILE’S SHANGRI-LA

METAL MIRAGE

In the next part of what now appears to be a series of articles discussing the building of the P-51 Mustang in 1:48, the editor tackles the Tamiya 1:48 P-51B…

Allan Kelley tackles the Eduard 1:48 Mirage IIIE, explaining how to create a wonderfully complex natural metal finish along the way.

EYES OF THE FLEET Iain Ogilvie takes a detailed look at the spectacular Revell 1:32 Arado Ar196

Issue 142 - www.modelairplaneinternational.com 81

NEXT MONTH 142.indd 3

06/04/2017 14:08

FINAL THOUGHTS SO MANY MODELS, SO LITTLE TIME…

O

ne of the great things about this job is that you don’t really know day to day, what you are going to see, going to receive, or going to build. Okay, the latter is a little off because you might be in the middle of a project, but you know what I mean. This week has been no different. I started off with precious little idea of what to build and now I have more than I can handle as samples have arrived en masse. Being faced with such a wide choice of models now means that I have to decide on what to keep to build, what to send out and what to leave alone in terms of full features. Choosing a kit to build can sometimes be less than straightforward. If I was the kind of modeller that stuck to one scale, one genre and a single time period it may be easy; the fact that I jump around all three like a particularly skittish grasshopper, tends to make the choice more difficult. Think kid in a sweet shop and you’ll get the general idea. So last week the Kitty Hawk 1:48 Su-17

arrived which is being worked on as we speak and then this week my planned Italeri 1:32 F-35A and then Revell 1:32 Spitfire Mk.IXc. Add to that a few other background jobs (including two 1:48 A-10A builds…) and you get some idea of the confusion that too much choice can cause! Of course it is great to be in this position, because it keeps the job — and hopefully in the case of our readers who face similar dilemmas, the hobby — fresh and exciting. It wouldn’t be much fun to have nothing that you fancy having a go at, time at the bench being accompanied by blank stares and frustration. But it does mean that you have to be selective, prioritising what we see and you buy, to maximise the time available to build the wonderful kits that are released, seemingly, every day. I’ll complete the Su-17 and then start work on the F-35A as planned and then after that, who knows: Spitfire maybe? Those A-10As? How about another Harrier..? See you next time! ■

82 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - May 2017

FINAL THOUGHTS 142.indd 2

06/04/2017 14:06

s: Comes with three markings-option from As F-14 y bilit -visi high two for VF-84 Jolly Rogers and VF-2 Bounty

T A C M O T

D E E N D E E THE P FOR S

ound! b in is t a c 4A Tom 1 F 8 4 : 1 w Swing-wing can be depicted at -ne angles from 20-75 degrees Tamiya's all

The F-14A was the most prolificallyproduced variant of the Tomcat. Seventy-nine were exported to Iran they before US Iranian relations cooled; War. raq Iran-I the in later took part As well as two United States Navy n decal sets, the kit includes an Irania ings-option plus fuel probe mark IRIAF film ‘Top Gun’. and fuel probe bay parts for this Deployed from 1974 to 2006, the the version. Also, the parts to recreate F-14 successfully employed ‘swing kit. the in ded inclu are iles air-to-air miss wing’ technology which offered iled, deta a ed creat have ya Tami ling variable sweep to the wing, enab accurate replica of the subject in the higher top speeds and controllable that form of a precisely engineered kit lower speeds for controllable and . build to sure will be a plea safer carrier landings.

Tamiya’s newest addition to the 1:48 Aircraft Series depicts the famous F-14A Tomcat, the US Navy fighter that fulfilled the dual roles of long y range interceptor and air superiorit ft aircra The me. airfra one in er fight also played the star role in the 1986

at Item No.61114 Tamiya 1:48 Grumman F-14A Tomc endant on wingspan: 212mm to 408mm (dep ■ Fuselage length: 398mm; ) wing position of swing age deployed in parked position, with undercarri ■ The aircraft is depicted and sealingg airba ent differ the t depic to ed ■ Separate parts are includ They can be ps. swee e degre 75 and plate shapes with the wing at 20 of the model letion comp after hed detac and attached movement horizontal stabilizers to allow their ■ Polycaps are used in the stowed or yed deplo in built be can ts ■ Ladder and step componen positions Air , plus one Islamic Republic of Iran Hunters US Navy Fighter Squadrons F-14A unit ) Force (IRIAF its bay, which to depict the refuelling probe and ■ Extra parts are included were uncovered on IRIAF F-14s and Radar s are included to depict seated pilot ■ Two highly-realistic figure (RIO) r Office Intercept tanks ■ Includes 267 gallon drop

■

-9 ir missiles is included in the kit; AIM A comprehensive set of USN air-to-a (x4) and AIM-54 Phoenix (x4) Sidewinders (x4), AIM-7 Sparrow

Find us on facebook search Tamiya UK Sign Up to our Newsletter on www.hobbyco.net

MAI HobbyCo advert.indd 8

Tamiya Kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes, MK5 8PG See the full Tamiya range at www.hobbyco.net Tamiya models are available from all good model shops

www.hobbyco.net

07/02/2017 15:22