AIR Modeller Issue 58 (2015 02 03)

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58 FEBRUARY/MAR 2015 • £6.50 UK $15.99

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2015

www.mengafvmodeller.com

MENG AIR MODELLER

PERFECT

STORM

PAOLO PORTUESI’S BUILD OF THE 1:24 AIRFIX TYPHOON

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CONTENTS 2

Perfect Storm? Part Two Paolo Portuesi completes the new 1:24 Airfix Hawker Typhoon.

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Salmson 2A2 / Otsu 1 Pierre Giustuniani builds the 1:48 Gaspatch Models kit.

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Big Buck Buccaneer Part One Andrea Vignocchi combines two kits to build his super detailed Buccaneer S.2B.

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Mil 24 Hind Trumpeter’s 1:35 Hind is reworked by Mac Patterson

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Big Bird B-17, Part 9 The Editor continues his build of HK Models spectacular 1:32 Flying Fortress.

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Air Born New releases.

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F/A-18 C Hornet Girolamo Lorusso shows how to get the best from Accademy’s 1:32 kit virtually out of the box..

Meng AIR Modeller is published Bimonthly by AFV Modeller ltd Old Stables East Moor Stannington Northumberland NE61 6ES Tel: 01670 823648 Fax: 01670 820274 email: [email protected] Editor and Designer: David Parker Deputy Editor: Mark Neville Sales Director: Keith Smith

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PART TWO

THE PERFECT STORM?

Paolo Portuesi concludes his build of the giant Airfix Typhoon Airfix provide some nice options for markings but I wanted to create my own using Montex masks

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After painting the engine and internals and finishing the assembly that we looked at in the previous issue, it was time to enjoy getting some colour on this beautiful kit. In the giant Airfix box there are four set of markings including one for MP197, known as the only Typhoon to have carried a shark-mouth. Despite the markings being very interesting, and the decals very good, I decided to produce a finish that was not offered by Airfix. When available, I always use masks over decals even in smaller scales. Lately, I have used Montex masks a few times and I simply love them. They can be accurately placed as they can be moved around into the right position before flattening into place. In addition to the marking masks for MM987 of 198 Squadron during March 1944, Montex Set K24070 contains the masks needed for painting the canopy, both inside and outside, and a small decal sheet for the kill markings. The scheme is Dark Green and Ocean Grey on the upper surfaces, with Medium Sea Grey on the undersides. Operational conditions were hard on these kind of aircraft, but Typhoons were mostly well maintained by their crews. Keeping this in mind, I started the painting.

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Stock-up on your favourite paint, this is one BIG model... As usual with my builds, all the colours came from the Gunze range of acrylics, each shade being painted on using a base colour and then highlights and shades. The initial stage of painting was a light application over the entire airframe of Medium Sea Gray (H-335), to show up a few areas that eventually needed more attention. When every little flaw was fixed, and an overall application of Alcald Semi Matte Aluminium (ALC-116) was allowed to dry, the model was painted all over with several layers, this time very diluted Medium Sea Grey and put aside to allow the paint to harden off.

Afterwards, I outlined the panel lines with some Burnt Sienna oil paint pin washes, and then carefully sprayed the upper airframe with the Ocean Grey (H-075), highlighting the centre of almost every airframe panel with a heavily diluted mix of five parts of Ocean Grey and one part of Matt White (H-011). Given that I can get a very fine line with my airbrush, I masked only some critical corners with Blu-Tak and sprayed freehand the Dark Green (H-423).

At this point in time, a new wash of Burned Sienna was followed by few new layers of a thinned mix of five parts of Dark Green and one part of Matt White, while some selected areas near the cockpit, the wing roots, and the engine sprayed by a mix of Brown (H-310) and some Flat Black (H-012) thinned at the eighty per cent to emphasize shadows and suggest dirty areas. The propeller was painted Flat Black, highlighted with a mix of the same colour and some Matt White, and dry brushed with Humbrol Aluminium (H-56).

almost every panel of the airframe has been highlighted with a heavily diluted mix

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A good tip if you’re new to masking

just a bit of Flat Black (XF-1). The small

markings; it is important not to thin the

Montex decal sheet is of excellent quality.

colours too much to avoid the paint

No solvent was needed to get them to

bleeding under the masks. The codes were

shrink-down into place. Finally, one last

painted Sky Duck Egg Green (H-074), like

wash of Burned Sienna toned down all the

the fuselage band and the spinner. The

insignia, while some very thin overall coats

roundels were painted with Tamiya colours:

of Gloss Clear (H030) mixed in equal parts

a mix of Royal Blue (X-3) and a touch of

with Flat Clear (H-020), sealed off the

Flat White (XF-2); a mix of Red (X-7) and

paintwork.

A protective clear-coat was applied and allowed to dry thoroughly before final assembly

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Wheels are a gift from my very good friend

Black, this time mixed with thirty per cent of

Roy Sutherland, the owner of Barracuda

Matt White.

Studios, producers of excellent aftermarket upgrades. To bring the resin parts to life, I

Wheel wells, undercarriage legs, and wheel

went for a first layer of Tire Black (H-077)

hubs are all painted Aluminium (ALC-101) and

lightened with some Matt White, followed by a

the beautiful detail highlighted by a thin wash

heavy wash of Raw Umber oil paint. When

of Burned Sienna.

dry, the wheels were again lightly sprayed Tire

landing gear is difficult to get set at the correct angle, maybe Airfix could have supplied metal inserts?

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So, in the end, what can I say about the Airfix 1:24 Typhoon? Nothing less that this is probably the most accurate and best-assembling model I have ever produced. It’s been the longest build of my life, I was working on it a little short of four months. Everything fits as you’d want it to, but you need to be very careful in cleaning and aligning perfectly hundreds and hundreds of parts, otherwise you will end up sanding down most of the incredible surface detailing. Airfix must be commended for what must be the best surface rendition of any plastic kit. Looking at my finished Typhoon, my only worry is the strength of the undercarriage legs over time. They were very difficult to get at the right angle, and now they look somewhat fragile. I wonder why Airfix did not include some metal inserts?

Airfix set out to achieve a very special model kit with the Typhoon, and they certainly have done. 7

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So is Airfix’s landmark anniversary Typhoon the perfect kit? Maybe there is no such thing as all modellers are different in their approach to projects and what they expect for their money, but this comes very close indeed! In this golden age of our hobby with so many manufacturers producing so many superb kits, it’s great to see one of the originators of the hobby, Airfix, can still make us happily part with our pocket money!

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SALMSON 2A2 – OTSU 1

Gaspatch Models 1:48 Modelled by Pierre Giustiniani

I have to say that for a first release, Gaspatch has done a stunning job! The happy modeller will get a high-quality model, with an impressive choice of different parts depending on the version you choose to build, photoetched parts for the engine and interior/exterior, paint masks for wheels, a resin machine gun and last but not the least a jig to give the wings their proper dihedral! As I discovered in the building process, the excellent first impression when the box is opened, was emphatically confirmed during the different steps of the construction. However, one issue with the model is the difficulty of removing some of the very tiny fragile parts from the sprues where considerable care is required. Nevertheless there are no booby traps and the precision fit of the parts make it a real pleasure!

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Having chosen the Japanese version of the Salmson 2A2, I had to remove the engine panels, because the Japanese version did not carry these most of the time. The mini saws from the RB Productions range are a great help for doing this! Both fuselage halves were painted in Gunze H-81 (sail

which in turn means: nothing in the

colour). The rib bands are meticulously

fuselage and no ammo boxes! For

masked with tape and painted in brown.

practical reasons (painting), part D8 will be

Frames and other wooden elements were

glued at the very end of the building

painted with fine oil paints, Tuscan Earth

process. If you choose to place a camera

from Sennelier. In order to have some

in the front part of the Observer’s position,

visibility once the fuselage is closed, this

the hatch (part D8) must remain open, to

area will then be highlighted with Prince

be able to send signals with the hand

August acrylics. EZ line is used for the

lamp. This lamp will be placed on the seat

inside rigging cables using a tiny drop of

instead of its support, to add some

superglue at the end of each extremity to

interest. It is time now to fill this space with

avoid the unaesthetic built up of glue,

the numerous elements like the Observer’s

which, in turn, could be a problem when

seat (black cushion), Morse transmitter,

closing the fuselage!

antenna wire wheel, etc.) The pilot's cockpit sits ahead of the fuel

At this stage, it is advisable to build an

tank (one of the first self-sealing tanks in

anchor point at frame level D-28/D-24 and

the world) and is coloured with a shade of

D/25/D21 for the positioning of the

very dark grey, then fixed on the floor

transverse cables. Everything now goes

before being held in position in the half

into place with a surgical precision!

fuselages. Cables are fitted to the rudder

Time for a break? No, you must now

bar, the position and angle of the seat is a

choose the kind of camera your bird will

bit difficult to get because, as in reality, it is

carry! Four possibilities are provided, and

fixed onto both the cabane struts and on

that's why you may need some references.

small blisters, themselves located on a

For this aircraft my choice was to use a

structural frame. The tail skid is extremely

26cm camera in place of the dorsal gun,

fragile and so it is better fix it at the very end!

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On this Japanese version of the Salmson,

Engine

the ammunition box for the MG is deleted,

Only if the "fully open" option is chosen will

but its support is not! The original part is so

you have to build the engine and this is the

fragile and so difficult to remove from the

case most of the time on the Otsu 1).

sprue tree without damage, that it is much

Composed of more than forty parts, it is a

more easier to scratch a new one using

model in itself, but the size of some parts

Evergreen rods. At this point I started to

really require patience and magnifying

paint and put to use the wood effects on

glasses to do the job properly. Another

the upper part of the fuselage, and

great feature by Gaspatch, is to provide the modeler with duplicate parts in case of an attack by the carpet monster! What a clever move! Dry fit the exhausts collector ring in place to find the proper position of the exhausts pipes. It will drop in place after painting.

complete the instrument panel, electric board, cards, boxes etc. When I had made all that effort and when every little part was in its place, it was time to close the fuselage and seal all of your work in darkness! Do not forget to drill part D75 (shells ejector) and glue it in place. A very welcome addition in this great kit, is the presence of a cardboard jig to help with the alignment of the lower wings and fuselage. Easy to assemble with white glue, it is a brilliant idea to have included it in the box, but please note that to fully use the jig the control surfaces of the lower wings must not be fixed! Because of the excellent fit of the parts, the wings can be glued to the fuselage, I was modelling an aluminium dope plane, but for a French or an American version, with multi-coloured scheme, it would be better to do that operation after painting.

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This time I will not follow the instructions as

from the sprues (thanks Radu Brinzan’s RB

I could glue the upper wings right now

I will not deal with the upper wings and

Productions again). Evergreen rods will be

using the main fuselage struts as a guide

struts, but work on the undercarriage and

a more solid alternative in some cases, I

and then fixing the outside struts with

tail unit instead. Everything works smoothly

did used them with success. You have to

liquid glue to have time to find the right

but a special care must be taken with the

open the holes for the rudder and tail

position. If you have used the jig as you

wheels, which will be fixed at the very end

surfaces wires and use the photo-etch

should, then it will be very easy to align

of the building process. Concerning the tail

eyelets provided in the kit ( five eyelets for

everything.

unit, some parts are very very fragile and

six holes!)

great care must be taken to remove them

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Painting First I sprayed a base of Alclad gloss black followed by Titanium Silver from Tamiya used for the doped Aluminium. The metallic parts are sprayed with Alclad "White Aluminium", using the masks provided, the roundels are painted with Tamiya red (XF7) and I made my own masks using a Roland SV-8 vinyl cutter for the black “1190” numbers. A post shading effect is achieved using very diluted Gunze H77, "Tire black" and Tamiya tape placed along the ribs. The struts are first painted aluminium, then their metal portion is masked with tape. Oil colours are used to duplicate the wood effects using red oxide oil paint. The engine covers are weathered with washes and some Rub 'n Buff on a cotton swab. Decals are fragile and great care must be taken during their use. The undersides of the plane was minimally weathered with some pigments, as these planes were well maintained and clean. The wheels were made from scratch using some photo-etch parts from a special hobby Lebed VII. Gaspatch provides some great turnbuckles as separate items. There are three kinds available and you will need a lot of them for your model should you choose to use them, but the result is very impressive and highly recommend.

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Overview I can only highly recommend this kit for all fans of Great War Aircraft but its complexity means that a little experience is needed before embarking on your Salmson adventure.

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SALMSON 2A2 – OTSU 1 17

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big-buck Andrea Vignocchi uses a plastic kit, an expensive resin kit, aftermarket parts and plenty of scratchbuilding to create this beautiful Buccaneer S.2B.

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The Buccaneer first flew in 1958 and entered service with the Royal Navy in 1962 with the S1 version powered by two De Havilland Giron engines. The plane immediately proved to be underpowered and troublesome during take offs and landings aboard carriers. Only 40 airframes were completed and it was at this time that the Buccaneer earned its nickname, “the brick”… Maturity came with the S2 version airframes, powered by two Rolls Royce Spey engines which had 40% more power than the Giron. The planes also sported bigger air intakes, stretched wings and other modifications and 220 aircraft were

built. Performances were quite remarkable for the time, the plane flew at 1038 km/h at sea level, had a range of 2300 nautical miles and a service ceiling equal to 12200 meters. The high manoeuvrability at low level allowed the pilots to perform some incredible flights just above the waves, making the Buccaneer one of the best carrier bombers of the period. In 1968, after the TSR2 program was cancelled, the Buccaneer entered service with the RAF and was employed for more than 20 years. From 1983 onward, some serious airframe fatigue problems led to the progressive grounding of the fleet. Its swan song occurred during the First Gulf

War in 1991, when 12 aircraft were employed as laser designators for Tornados and flew 218 operative sorties. Personally, I think it’s a beautiful aircraft, with a muscular and powerful look and with some “vintage” features, like the huge leaflike airbrake that reminds me of a Dornier 217, or the round-bellied bomb bay. I’m fascinated by the 60/70’s jets, with their awkward solutions. Modern jets have refined shapes and feature leading edge technology, but they lack in charm but that is only my opinion!

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The Airfix and CMR kits

I decided to use the Airfix kit since plastic is easily workable for the modifications I had in mind. After a detailed examination of the kit, all its flaws became clear: poor detail, raised panel lines and troublesome fitting. Looking for a solution, I bought the resin CMR kit; its main shortcomings are the almost total lack of panel lines and the poor fitting of the parts, so I decided to use the content of the CMR box as the most expensive detail set I have ever bought!

Best of both Buccaneers Problems appeared from the very start, the plastic air intakes have a wrong inner shape, so I was forced to use the resin ones that have the correct profile (see below), but when I mated them to the fuselage I understood I’d have a lot of work to do! Attention turned to the arrestor hook area; its shape was modified and the reinforcements around the well were made

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with adhesive aluminium sheet. The plastic hook was replaced with the resin one. Even though the wheel well shape is correct, I had to add some details: I glued some ribs on the turbine duct made with stretched sprue, then I added more details made with styrene profiles and various lead wires. Since the bomb bay was already available

in the kit, I couldn’t resist the urge to display it in the open position, as one can often see in the pictures taken with the aircraft on the ground. I used the kit part and it was properly thinned, stretched and provided with part of the rotation mechanism. At the end of the detail work, the result is very satisfying.

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Plastic Surgery

On the lower part of the fuselage, I removed the engine bay doors and some panels below the nose. I started by deeply engraving the lines around the panels to be

removed, then I cut them with a Tiger razor saw. My idea was to save the panels and engine doors, since their complex shape would have made it difficult to rebuild them

After having cut and thinned the fuselage, it became very fragile and therefore I had to handle it with caution throughout the project.

Tailplanes are awful, their shape is wrong and I had to replaced them with the CMR ones. Another problem of the Airfix kit is the completely wrong nose shape; in order to reshape it, I filled the nose cone with Tamiya two-part epoxy putty, then, using files and sandpaper, I tried to reproduce its correct profile working to my references.

Panel precission I then started to engrave the panel lines on the fuselage and the wings. Since it’s a fairly complex area, I had to use many different tools and templates. After fixing the template to the model, I lightly

engraved the panel lines with a sharp blade. The final result is not very pleasing, it has raised edges. The panel lines were then sanded and re-engraved, in order to eliminate the dust all the residue was

removed with a stiff brush and a final pass with Tamiya liquid cement completed the job. Rivets were made with a 0.25mm drill working carefully to references.

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Cockpit creation The cockpit was made with some parts taken from the CMR kit and with some other parts that were scratchbuilt, I think it looks busy and cramped enough.

Using my “high-contrast” technique taken from the figure painting world the cockpit was detail painted. This technique lends itself well to the busy, small scale detail in this cramped area.

Fuselage finesse After I glued the two fuselage halves, I turned my attention to the engine exhaust area; the kit’s junction is awful, so I decided to cover the area with a plasticard profile, in order to obtain a suitable surface for the burnt metal colour I’d apply later on. The exhaust pipes were improved by separating them and adding many details on the inside, I then made a sort of bulkhead, so that I would be able to insert the exhaust pipes later on. I inserted some lead weights inside the nose and glued it to the fuselage. I engraved the panel lines that were lost during reshaping. A prominent feature of the Buccaneer is the large airbrake, which is almost always open on the ground. Airfix and CMR parts are beyond compare, but the resin parts aren’t flawless: I added many details, then I increased the depth of the numerous holes inside the airbrake.

Engine rebuild Now came the construction of the engines and their painting. I started with the creation of the bulkhead that divides the engine from the inside of the fuselage and, to do this, I used a part from an old kit. The numerous cuts I made forced me to glue many reinforcements inside the fuselage halves and I also had to figure out an assembly sequence, in order to be able to easily paint the numerous sub-assemblies. The bulkhead was completed with some reinforcements in its lower part and some cabling made with lead wire. Some meticulous painting working from colour reference completed the bulkhead. The real challenge when I built this model was to scratchbuild the whole Rolls Royce Spey engine. The first problem was to build the inner engine body; this was made with a nylon tube worked on with a lathe and shaped in a way that would allow me to insert it in the rear part of the air intake. The compressor face is not acceptable in either kit, 22 so I took care of the problem with some home-made photoetch.

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Only the lower part of the left engine was scratchbuilt, using plasticard profiles, punch & die fasteners and some filing to reshape the parts. Jet engines are covered by pipes and wires of various diameter, the lead wire is perfect for this task, being able to perfectly adapt to the many curves of the engine. The construction of the main body of the engine is from the nylon prototype cast in resin which is more suitable for gluing the components onto. I started by gluing some plastic strips on the engine inner body. The engine was made in a way that would

allow me to attach it to the rest of the model at the end of the building phase, just before starting the painting of the model. I made the ribs, then I added many bolts simulated with sections of stretched sprue, in order to obtain the correct level of complexity I made the bigger pipes with some large diameter wire, the rest of the wiring was made with 0.2 and 0.3mm. It’s a long and demanding job, but I think the final result is worth it. Engine painting is an essential phase in the building process, the engines have many sections painted in

different colours, with hues varying from blue to burnt brown. The rear part of the left engine was painted with Agama Track Colour while the many accessories were painted in black and aluminium. The bigger pipes were painted in Chrome Silver and a black oil wash highlighted part of the details.Some other details were highlighted with Vallejo acrylics, while the burnt effect on the piping was achieved with inks.

Right engine painting was much more challenging. First of all, I laid an Alclad Semi Matt Aluminium coat, then the different metallic tones were obtained with filters made with very diluted inks. The central part of the engine was painted with Agama aluminum. The wiring was painted with a wide range of metallic colours, some of the piping was painted with Model Master metallic enamels and highlighted with some ink filters in order to simulate the steel they were made of. The engine was installed in its bay and the final result is quite spectacular!

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Doors and details To paint the interiors and the engines I referred to some pictures I found on the “Buccaneer Society” website, they restored the airframe 544 and their website is a mine of information. Before final assembly, I turned my attention to the parts I would assemble at the end. Many Airfix parts are unusable and were replaced with CMR ones. Landing gear legs looked quite flimsy and, to be safe, I added a brass axle in the leg’s hinge, the wheel’s plastic axles were replaced with Lion Roar brass tubes. The landing gear detailing job ended with the addition of brake lines, some bolts and many other

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tiny details. Making the landing gear doors was a complex task, the tapered fuselage gives them a particular shape and for this reason I used the doors I removed at the beginning of the building process. I opened some holes that are present on the real thing, then I glued a 0.13mm plasticard sheet on the outside of the doors. The inner part of the doors were completed with some wiring and other details. During the painting phase I tried to reproduce the look and the level of dirt I could see on the pictures of the real thing.

I used the Airfix underwing pylons adding some details and I also rescribed the panel lines. I installed just the ECM pod and the laser designator, since I wanted to reproduce a maintenance scene, I thought this would be the most realistic configuration. I then painted the parts that will be installed at the end of the painting process, like the airbrake, the wheel well doors, landing gear, pod and the various kinds of probes.

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In the last phase of the building process I finished the upper part of the cockpit. I detailed the rear bulkhead, then I placed the rear seat, the transparent shield that protects the navigator in case of ejection, and the instrumentation located below the

windshield. I then fitted the pilot’s seat and painted the details above the instrument panel. The inner part of the windshield was painted with a transparent blue, then I fixed it to the fuselage. An extensive masking job of the cockpit

and all of the open areas alredy painted will prepare the Buccaneer for the main paintwork which I’ll describe in part two.

Part Two continues in the next issue.

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Mac Patterson details Trumpeter’s big 1:35 Russian Bear It's big, it's brutal, it's a beast- codenamed Hind, the Mil 24 has been at the frontline of the combat helicopter world for several decades its service with numerous airforces is well documented, this huge helicopter has shown its teeth in many conflicts most notably during the Soviet incursion of Afghanistan during the 1980's. Functioning like a flying tank, the bulky Hind, in all of its various marks, can really pack a punch. It was probably the concept of the scale of the thing that was the catalyst for this specific project, I could imagine the visual impact the helicopter would make, but was 26

still slightly taken aback when the Trumpeter box arrived in the post. The kit has been around for a decade or so and bearing in mind the strides the company has taken regarding improving accuracy and finesse of their mouldings in the intervening years the Hind must have created quite a stir even back then. On the whole the mouldings are extremely well detailed, the panel lines are sharp but shallow and the notorious rivet detail seems quite restrained, it has to be said that some sprue gates, even on the smaller parts are quite chunky- there are some notable ejector pin marks but these

are mostly on unexposed surfaces and are fairly easy to cover up. The impression of the level of detail straight from the box is very favourable, however considering the size of the kit there is a great opportunity to add a considerable amount of super detailing. The main areas I intended to focus on were the display of the engines and the cockpit area which is highly visible through the vast canopy. The kit parts for the pilot and gunners stations and the rear troop cabin, contain all of the major components seen on the real thing, the kit mouldings

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being actually very good, however, Verlinden have produced a dedicated resin upgrade for these areas with far superior levels of detail, the rear cabin is worth the price alone. From the beginning of the project I had always envisaged the completed kit in a diorama setting, with this in mind I had found some fascinating images of Soviet Hinds in the field from the Afghanistan campaign of the 1980's these were perfect reference material as I had wanted to build what looked like a hard working machine in a rugged, unforgiving landscape. Further research uncover a specific Hind from that period- Yellow 28, a Mil 24V of the 335th OBVP based at Jelalabad, Afghanistan during the Spring of 1982, so this Hind would potentially be a 'Shaitan-Arba', or Satans Chariot- an appropriately threatening title given the fire breathing beast by the Mujahedin guerillas. 27

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The first and potentially time-consuming part of the project was to construct and detail the twin Isotev TV3-117 engines, these are made from several nicely detailed elements with sererate intakes, exhaust nozzles, various internal and external sub assemblies with complex plumbing and wiring looms. It builds up into a fairly decent interpretation of the powerful engine but lacks the complex and extensive wires and cables of the real thing. Refering to reference photographs, I added a number of wiring looms and various pipe work with a variety of gauges of fuse wire and plastic rod. Progressively the detail was added to the point where the engines looked convincingly busy, because the completed Hind would appear heavily weathered, I wanted the engines to look suitably 'run in' and combat stressed, once primed they were given a coat of Tamiya Nato Black followed by a subtle dusting of Tamiya Nato Brown, a drybrushing with Humbrol metallic Silver picked out detail and gave a worn, metallised appearance- wiring was picked

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out with a variety of Tamiya Acrylics colours as appropriate. These were set to one side to await final construction, it was now time to concentrate on the interior elements.

also acts as the engine deck. Once happy that every element would fit and be aligned, I primed all of the elements in preparation for painting.

The Verlinden resin set contains numerous highly detailed individual elements, test fitting the troop cabin walls showed that these parts are pretty close in dimension to the kit parts and require minimal adjusting for a good fit. The kit provides the cockpit and troop cabin floor as a single part, which is ideal for fuselage alignment, but as I was intent on using the more detailed Verlinden cockpit, the front section of the kit floor needed to be removed with a razor saw. The remaining rear floor section has very simple detail, displaying no framing or anti slip texture and lacking the circular access panels seen on the real helicopter, this was all created using strips of styrene and a sheet of textured railway diorama material. More test fitting was require to ensure alignment of the resin cockpit, the troop cabin floor, resin side walls and bulkheads as well as the cabin roof which

Reference photographs seem to show that the interior of the troop cabin to be a light blue/grey, this was also applied to the bench seat frames and rear bulk head, the Verlinden resin replacement bulk head is extremely well detailed and looks very convincing when painted and weathered, sadly it is hardly visible on the finished model. All areas were heavily weathered, I used small pieces of cleaning pad foam and Tamiya Dark Grey to stippled areas of most wear suggesting the metal appearing through the painted surfaces, especially around the entry/exit points of the cabin doors. To create a metallic like sheen I rubbed pencil graphite into recesses and surface edges, the weathering was completed by liberally dusting a combination of Humbrol weathering powders.

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Attention now turned to the pilot and gunner’s areas. This would almost entirely be constructed from the resin set, these include fully detailed side wall instrument panels with well defined buttons and switches, a multipart pilots instrument panel, gunners compartment with a variety of scopes and technical equipment as well as two beautifully rendered seats with seat belt detail. My reference indicated that the cockpit floor was black on most Hinds of the Afghanistan era, with that mysterious, non specific Russian greeny/blue used on the instrument panels. I still had some of this colour I'd mixed for a previous Mig 21 project, having been happy

with the results and the fact that it's a pretty close match to the colour that Eduard use on their prepainted etched sets, I decided to use this mix. If memory serves me it I mixed approx 30% Tamiya X15 Light Green with 70% Tamiya X14 Light Blue. The myriad buttons and switches were then picked out with various acrylics, constantly checking against colour diagrams and reference. The various dials and gauges are hollow having no instrumentation detail, I applied an appropriate decal from the MDC Soviet era instrument decal sheet then applied a drop of Future to create a glass effect to each dial.

With the bulk of the interior components completed it was getting nearer to closing up the fuselage- as well as displaying the engine, I felt it was an opportunity to show the 'guts' of the machine- I now intended to display the rotor mechanism, APU unit and various avionic, battery and ground unit connecting points- all of which would need to be scratch built as no aftermarket resin or etch is available at this time. The biggest task would be creating the rotor gear mechanism, including the main reductor gearbox and mounting struts, while refering to detailed reference shots I scratch built a number of individual components from bits and pieces found in the spares box. The rear bulkhead and control system linkage were also scratch built to the point were I feel they are a fairly accurate depiction of the real thing.

The rotor gear mechanism as well as the engine deck was painted and weathered, once again I stippled Dark Grey over areas of intense wear to suggest a machine that had undergone constant, heavy maintenance in the field. The APU including stand by generator and exhaust ducts were also scratch built from photographs and cut away diagrams. With all interior

components completed and having painted, weathered and attached the kit wheel wells, the task of closing the fuselage had to be achieved- because of the amount of individual items I felt this might be a little challenging...handily the Verlinden resin parts replicate the original kit parts having large plugs that fit into deep, square recesses on the interior of

the fuselage, so alignment between the resin cockpit and composite troop cabin was reasonably straight forward, likewise a little manipulation accommodated the rotor mechanism, avionics bays and APU, so that the exterior of the fuselage displayed only a few gaps easily dealt with using a little model filler.

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I had purchased the Eduard etched exterior detail set as the various latches, vents and panels would add extra finesse over and above the kit detail. With the addition of the characteristic wing stubs and weapons pylons the airframe was ready to prime, this indicated a few areas that needed further sanding, the detail that was erased during this process was reinstated with a scriber and die punch. The concept from the beginning was to display a very well worn machine with faded and weathered combat camouflage,

I had also noticed that combat veterans had quite heavy exhaust staining, I thought this would look appropriate for a machine with engines that where being stressed under combat conditions. Two roles of Blu Tac were put on either side of the exhausts nozzles, these extended down as far as the upper surfaces of the wing stubs. I began by airbrushing Sky Grey in an up and down motion to create the base for the stainingto suggest heavy carbonisation I built up layers of Nato Black, finally XF20 Medium grey was applied randomly to suggest 'pulses' from the exhaust. Removing the masking and the Blu Tac left the exhaust staining with a soft faded edge, to further feather the edges I applied a few light coats of Nato Black. I continued to weather the fuselage creating wear and scuff marks around access panels by stippling dark grey followed by rubbing graphite around areas of heaviest wear, I also applied a number of Humbrol weathering powders to hint at grime and rain streaking, these also helped give the paint work a dull, dusty feel

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I began the process by pre-shading panel lines and selective areas of the airframe with Nato Black. The specific machine I had in mind, Yellow 28, wore two tone camouflage typical of Soviet Hinds during the Afghan campaign, this appears to be Light Stone with a 'cloverleaf' style Grey Green, I wanted these colours to be dull and faded so elected to mix them using Tamiya acrylics. I experimented with XF14 JA Grey and XF51 Deck Tan in various proportions to create the faded Light Stone base colour, this was applied in several light coats ensuring the upper surfaces had

a lighter, sun-bleached look. When I was happy with the overall effect, I masked the green areas to create the ‘cloverleaf’ pattern camouflage- a combination of XF67 Nato Green lightened with XF71 IJN Cockpit Green was mixed for a suitable hue- I then fractionally lightened the center of each ‘cloverleaf’ for what, I feel, is a more dimensional effect. The undersides of the Hind are a lightish blue, I combined XF23 Light Blue with XF19 Sky Grey and a splash of XF2 Flat White to take the colour down a little so it blended tonally with the upper camouflage.

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The huge rotorhead and blades were next on the agenda- straight from the box the complex mechanism is quite well detailed only really lacking some of the obvious wiring and plumbing, this was easily fabricated from various gauges of fuse wire. As usual with helicopter kits the individual rotor blades are perfectly straight, observing reference photographs of Hinds at rest, its obvious the huge blades bow under there own weight. To realise this effect, I created a 'jig' to curve each blade, this was made from toothpicks stuck into a polystyrene base, after some experimentation the appropriate curve was achieved- one at a time, each blade was held in place and stressed by the toothpicks, I them used a hot hairdryer to heat and soften the plastic so it would conform and stay curved, this was a long, laborious process that had to be done 5 times! However the final results, I think, were worth the extra effort. The tail rotor is very nicely detailed only needing a little fuse wire to enhance the existing mouldings

The Trumpeter kit provides two markings- a Hind based in East Germany in the early 90's and an attractive Czech Tiger Meet option, obviously neither of these markings would be appropriate for the time period or location of this project. The stencilling and large red star would be useable, however I decided to airbrush the Soviet star instead- a mask was cut from low tack masking film and applied to the fuselage, I ensured the XF7 Flat Red was dulled fractionally with Sky Grey to retain tonal harmony with the weathered camouflage so the red of the star wasn't too vibrant.

The vast, insect-like canopy is supplied as a single clear part the entrances to the pilot and gunners area can be posed open or closed, the moulding is crystal clear. The only negative point is a very large mould seem on the right hand side of the pilot glazing, its obvious and annoying and needs to be removed to create the characteristic curved bubble of the real canopy. The seem was first scrapped off with a sharp scalpel and then various grades of micro cloth were used to polish the canopy back to clarity. I used the kit decals for the large yellow rotor warning marking which went down very well, once the remaining stencils were applied the entire airframe was given a light coat of XF57 Buff to integrated the decals and give Yellow 28 a tired, dusty and faded look of an Afghanistan veteran.

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The selection of weapons account for a generous proportion of the kit parts- well done Trumpeter for giving the modeller so many mission configuration options, I elected to keep it quite simple intending to use the nicely detailed long range fuel tanks, particularly useful I felt to a combat veteran operating 'in country'. As well as employing the ubiquitous B8V20 rocket pods, this Hind was capable of carrying 9M170 anti tank missiles, I elected to keep the missile rails clean, but felt the kit versions were a little chunky, after examining photographs of the real things, I decide to scratch build these parts, adding tiny bolt head detail, fine wiring and contact points. I had always intended to create a diorama

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setting for the Hind giving a sense of Soviet forces 'in country' possibly having just landed a crude, primitive forward base. Being 1/35 in scale, the Trumpeter Hind, allows, (without the slight compromise in scale of 1/32 aircraft) the modeller to incorporate some of the high quality resin figure available on the market, the five figures that appear in the diorama are from Rest Models of Ukraine and Evolution, beautifully detailed, they all have naturalistic poses, I did however used the amazing Hornet head sets as they have a great variety of facial expressions. As well as the infantry and tanker figures I wanted at least one pilot, there are a few Russian helicopter pilot figures available, but I really like the

excellent Evolution modern Russian Tank figure carrying the semi automatic, in some reference shots I'd found, Soviet combat helicopter pilots of this era wore combat fatigues and a short, black leather 'bomber' style jacket not that dissimilar to the Evolution tanker- the pilots head is from Verlinden pilot, the 'bonedome', incorporating a tinted visor, being very similar to the Soviet variety. I wanted the base to create the impression of a rugged, isolated forward LZ, I used various grades of model railway ballast for the rocky terrain, incorporating a variety of wooden packing cases, oil drums and ammo boxes to make the scene busy and informal.

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The completed Hind is a bit of a beast just like the real thing, the rotor blades being 500mm across, so it really creates an impact, the base Trumpeter kit is very good with excellent moulding and many detailed parts, I'm sure Hind buffs will be able to comment on several issues and anomalies with the kit, most notably the lack of the strange kink in the fuselage which would , I feel, almost impossible to rectify. However this was an involving, stimulating and fascinating project from a fairly recent and interesting era of combat, the big Hind is the only option in this scale if you want to build this classic combat helicopter- its a kit you can really get your teeth into without it biting back.

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In this installment the painting progresses although not without a few technical difficulties to be overcome along with the demands of working on such a large model. To help with this I had left the wings and stabilizers separate. They all fit so well that this is not a problem and it makes life much easier but even so its a bit of a handful! As we saw in part 8 the new True Metal metallic wax

gave a stunningly realistic bare metal finish but as I moved onto other parts of the model it proved a little tricky to work over. Had I used decals instead of painting the markings this may have been far less of a problem and indeed Kits World have a set of 1:32 decals for “Little Miss Mischief”. However this was a good learning experience for working with True Metal on future projects.

“Little Miss Mischief” had a replacement wingtip section taken from an old olive drab over grey aircraft and I wanted a really worn and faded look to this so I began with a few coats of hairspray over the Alclad base and then applied a faded brown with some darker shadows.

A stiff brush and warm water was then used to remove areas of the brown to expose the aluminium for a chipped look.

This was sealed with varnish and then areas of Mr Masking Sol were applied with a sponge before different tones of brown and green were selectively oversprayed to give an even more worn look.

The wingtip was finished in red and the masking was removed. At this stage I was not completely happy with the wingtip red but more about the reds next.

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The tail fin was masked and sprayed a dull pink mixed from Gunze red H327 with Sandy Yellow H79 added. I kept the paint thin and patchy to match the finish in the colour archive picture of the aircraft.

Having lived with the pink for a while I decided to darken it a little with some more patchy tones.

Initially I painted the stabilisers in the delicious full strength Gunze red H327 along with the wing tips. This was very high contrast against the faded tail and the faded Olive drab wing section so I decided to tone these down assuming that these would have faded too. Some careful application of Gunze blue label thinners allowed me to wipe off the paint from the top surfaces of the left hand

I kept the fading on the left quite heavy with traces of the bare metal showing through which contrasts nicely with the finish on the other stabiliser. As ‘Little Miss Mischief” was maintained with parts from 13 different aircraft there would be quite a variation in finishes between different parts. Right The wing tip was also faded and I used Mr Masking Sol to give the chipped finish.

stabiliser and wing tip, back to the bare plastic. I reapplied a coat of True Metal to these areas before spraying the pinks used on the tail by mixing in H79 working from the lightest to the darker shades and keeping the parts closest to the fuselage the darkest. On the right hand stabiliser I simply added lighter tones over the original red to give a patchy look.

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Chipped paint along the leading edges enhances the tired look of the heavily faded stabiliser. A scalpel and tooth picks were used to create theses

A similar effect was applied to the other stabiliser although not as heavily.

Time to think about markings and I had decided that at this scale painting the markings would be the best approach. I was able to commission some custom made masks from Miracle Paint Masks (www.freewebs.com/miraclemasks) which provided all the markings with the exception of the nose art and the mission tally on the nose. Here the large ‘A’ symbol on the wing has been completed.

Work is underway painting the same symbol on the tail fin with the white paint applied. The advantage of using masks is that you can tone your paints for faded effects giving complete control.

Disaster strikes! Despite sealing the fin with Alclad lacquer before painting the markings, when removing the masking from the tail, areas of the pink paint were removed from the fin leaving it looking like the picture on the left. This was simply because the paint was not getting proper adhesion to the bare metal finish. With hindsight I would have applied only Alclad to the fin or painted the markings first onto the plastic. However I had to deal with the situation so I masked off the triangle with masking tape, retouched the pink and then retouched the code numbers with a brush. Rather than using pure black for the markings I used a dark grey for a more faded look. Right The repaired tail fin looking just as I intended. Below I had similar problems with my wing markings and I had used hairspray to give the chipped look to the olive drab which probably did not help the adhesion.

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I had no choice but to start again so I carefully removed all the paint from the outer wing panel using Gunze blue label thinners. The national insignia was then sprayed which allowed me to create the faded section, showing the older style marking with the red outline which has been overpainted with the blue outline. I was working from archive pictures which show exactly this effect.

I then masked the insignia and applied a base coat of Alclad aluminium and applied some Mr Masking Sol Neo using a sponge to give a chipped finish. A coat of faded olive drab mixed from Gunze H52 with H79 was then applied and you can see that I had masked off the front edge of the wing to keep this section as I was pleased with the finish.

I applied more Mr Masking Sol before airbrushing more lighter tones using the Iwata Custom Micron allowed me to shade the individual ribs across the wings.

Finally I sprayed some small areas with darker olive drab where fading had been less or areas of repair.

Removing the masks is always an exciting moment when you can at last see if everything is unified. Unfortunately the area of the original paint on the leading edge did not withstand the masking!

I decided that I would keep the leading edge looking like this rather than trying to repair it as it all added to the battered look of this old piece of wing.

I decided that the fuselage needed a bit more of a faded look so I worked over it again with paler tones of olive drab - mixed with varying amounts of H79. I concentrated on the upper surfaces to help give a sun-faded look.

I also sprayed one of the elevators in the faded olive drab to replicate a part from the donor rear fuselage, the other elevator will be finished in natural metal.

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Time to add the fuselage markings and I began with the codes from the original doner aircraft B-17G-15-BO 42-31405, “Walleroo Mark II” which had the codes BN*X. When the repairs were made to “Little Miss Mischief” the old codes were roughly painted out. However traces of the ‘B’ on the right side remained so I

made my own masks for the codes and sprayed on the ‘B’. In order to judge the size of the overpainting I lightly sprayed around the outline of the letters before removing the masks.

I tried to keep an irregular finish to the these overpainted areas with differing densities of paint to give the I mixed a green from Gunze colours to match the shade I could see in the colour archive image and this impression of a hastily applied finish. was applied following the ghost outlines I had created.

Left Traces of the ‘B’ were allowed to show through the overspray which also replicates the appearance from the archive image.

The national markings were then added and I added some very slight fading to the inner blue at the top of the circular section, once again using Miracle Paint Masks allows for this subtlety. You can also see here the incredible depth of the rivet detail. Despite all the painting they remain dark and I think any decal applied over these would inevitably have a different surface appearance. In the course of this project I have been contacted by several people pointing out that “Little Miss Mischief” was fitted with the Stinger tail as seen in the colour archive image. This is correct for the aircraft at that time but it was retrofitted with the Cheyenne turret as can be seen in a photograph of the bomber after crash landing where the vertical sides of the Cheyenne glass house can be seen.

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The new fuselage codes were also sprayed on with a white base laid down before adding the yellow.

Moving to the nacelles I needed to define the different metallic finishes on the front ring and around the superchargers. The areas were masked as shown here.

The next job was to apply the olive drab anti-glare panels. There are variations in the shape of these areas but I went with the curved demarcation which took some masking! Photos of the real aircraft also show that these panels extended further around the nacelles than some examples. Like the rest of the aircraft there is a mix of finishes on these parts which I did my best to replicate. Before

These areas were sprayed with Alclad Duraluminium and then misted with Alclad Pale Burnt metal and the masking removed.

painting I used White Spirits to clean off the True Metal from the areas to be painted, leaving just the Alclad base coat so as to avoid any problems with paint adhesion. Mr Masking Sol was applied to add some chipped paint and the areas were sprayed with Gunze H52.

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The unusual cowling on this engine is a result of recycled parts being used to repair damaged areas.

Solvent-based paints were out of the question for the bare metal areas so I used a pale grey from the Lifecolor range to define the panel lines. Any overspill or excess is easily wiped off the metal surface if done quickly.

With the masking removed from the engine all the hard work spent detailing the motor pays off!

It was time at last to add the nose art and for this is used the excellent Kits World decals which were applied directly onto the True Metal surface without any problems. www.kits-world.com

I reworked the bomb symbols to mimic the faded appearance of them seen in a colour archive photo of the aircraft by carefully painting over them with different shades of pink and red. I left the more recently applied markings on the bottom row a deeper unfaded red.

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I thought that the chin turret was almost ready for paint except for reworking the canvas gaiters. However once I started to look more closely there were a few things to sort out. The raised lip around the gun openings needed to be removed and I used Archer surface detail rivets to add the correct rivet

The gaiters on the tail turret were painted but they still need the diamond-shaped plates over the openings for the guns.

detail. The 3 square inspection covers should be flush so I engraved the outline of them before sanding them flush. The gaiters were added with Magic Sculp and a strip of foil for the central zips. I mistakenly painted these in silver initially but they are brass zips so they had to be redone.

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Here is the completed chin turret with the Master gun barrels installed and then test fitted in the nose. The brass gun barrels were blackened using Ushi Van Der

I moved on to the undercarriage next, applying the base colours as seen here. The metallic parts were sprayed in Alclad aluminium except for the oleo struts which were polished and sprayed with Alclad chrome. The tires were sprayed with Gunze ‘Tire Black’ H77.

Rosten burnishing agent and then finished with Gunze Mr Metal Color ‘Dark Iron’.

Before weathering the wheels I painted the red and pale green markings on the tires and then applied a Payne’s Grey oil wash to the hubs. A subtle pale brown/grey oil wash was used to pick out the tire tread and Good Year logo. Finally some pale grey pigment was applied to the side wall of the tire around the hub.

Left The details were picked out on the struts using brass, copper and steel from the Mr Metal Color range Right The tail wheel was finished using the same colours and techniques as the main wheels. Below The legs and wheels are brought together. These are not the original kit wheels so I would need to adjust the positioning of the wheels when the undercarriage is fitted. For this reason the brake hoses are not yet installed on the inner hub.

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The Project continues in the next Issue

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new releases

Wingnut Wings 1:32 Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early

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The original Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 release from Wingnut Wings (the monoplane) was so popular that it is one of the few kits to now no longer be available which means this new version should be welcomed if you missed out on the first release. The fact that the W.12 is also virtually devoid of any rigging should also make it a great choice for the Wingnuts novice looking to work up to some of the more complex subjects. Contrary to my expectations, the majority of the sprues in this kit are new with just the beaching trolley and engine carried over from the original release. As we have come to expect assembly begins with a stunningly detailed cockpit which builds into a tub which is then mounted inside the fuselage. The kit provides photo etched seat belts and if you want to add the control cable rigging for the cockpit there is a diagram in the instructions to assist you. The Wingnut Wings instruction booklets continue to set the standard for high quality, printed in full colour they include archive pictures of the real aircraft and detailed information on colours, meaning that you won't need reference books or any prior interest in the aircraft to build one of these kits - its all been provided. The 150 hp Benz Bz.III engine is also beautifully detailed and separately moulded cowlings mean that it can be displayed on the finished

model and it comes with three different styles of exhaust pipes. The new fuselage is a stunning piece of moulding with its open engine louvres and leather cockpit coaming and is surprisingly big! A photoetched Spandau sleeve is provided along with a plastic moulded version for the etch averse. Wing assembly is straight forward thanks to some excellent Cartograf decals for the lozenge markings and the usual high standard of engineering with fool-proof locator pins for the struts. The kit provides a set of beaching dollies and trestles to allow it to be displayed on land and as always there is a helpful guide diagram for the minimal rigging. As usual there are five different schemes provided in the kit on the two large decal sheets offering a choice of the earlier lozenged floats or the later ones where the floats are painted black. There are full colour guides to the markings and archive pictures of the subject aircraft. To sum up, Wingnut Wings continue to impress with the high standard of the their kits which extends right from the precision fit of the parts through the high quality packaging and instruction booklet. This is another stunning addition to their range and we really can't think of a good reason not to build one! The kits can be ordered direct from Wingnut Wings at www.wingnutwings.com

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Wingnut Wings 1:32 ‘The Duelists’ Felixstowe F.2A & Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 Well this is a big box by anyone’s standards and the release of not one but three versions of the Felixstowe F.2A flying boat has caused huge excitement! This massive model with its 91cm wingspan is available as 32050 - Felixstowe F.2a (Early), 32066 - Felixstowe F.2a (Late) and the version we have here 32801 - Felixstowe F.2a & Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 "The Duellists" which provides the early Felixstowe along with another complete kit - the out of production Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 making this a very attractive offer if you missed out on the W.29. As the W.29 kit is unmodified apart from the single choice of markings which is different to those from the stand-alone release we will focus our attention on the Felixstowe. You cant help but immediately be impressed with the shear size and quality of mouldings and the main hull or fuselage mouldings have been cleverly designed to accept inset side panels which are moulded separately to allow the rib and foot step details to be replicated. The fuselage comes with a stunningly detailed interior running from the bow to well past the waist gun positions. Its all there, the cockpit, fuel tanks with plumbing, wireless operator’s position and waist gun position with finely detailed Lewis guns and photoetched seat belts. The whole interior framework assembles into a stunning model in its own right and like all the Wingnuts kits is precision engineered to sit perfectly into the two fuselage halves. The full colour painting guide in the instruction booklet is

on hand to help you bring all this detail to life. The Felixstowe is powered by a pair of Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engines which have no cowlings and the kit captures all the intricate detail of these, even providing fully wired up magnetos for the modeller. Copper pipework adds a welcome flash of colour as shown in the comprehensive colour guide. Clever kit design allows the assembly of the central engine/wing structure ahead of the rest of the wings which will make rigging this area easier and again there is a colour coded guide for this. The rest of the huge wings have also been designed to be detachable to assist in storing the model - another example of the intelligent design we have come to expect from this company. The kit also comes with a beaching trolley and trestles to allow you to display it ashore and another nice touch is the photoetched name plates that are included for this and the W.29 on the photoetch fret. Just like the W.29 just one set of Cartograf markings is provided for the Felixstowe rather than the choice of five schemes in the individual kits 32050 & 32066. The more colourful dazzle schemes will require some skillful masking from the modeller as they are not part of the decal sheets so it should not be hard to replicate one of these on the Duelist version. A stunning kit by any standard and quite possibly kit of the year for 2015. Full details of these and all the range with ordering information direct from Wingnut Wings at: www.wingnutwings.com

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HK Models 1:32 DO 335 B-2 Zerstörer

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Saviours of the large scale aircraft builder, HK, never fail to excite with their new releases with something here for late war Luftwaffe fans in the shape of the push / pull twin engined Dornier 335. The big sturdy box houses a big kit, the finished model having a wingspan of 485mm, note quite as gargantuan as the B-17 project, but certainly an impressive display piece. Being a freshly tooled kit, and in line from everything we've seen from HK, there's some beautiful surface detail and fine moulding throughout. Along with the grey sprues there's a small photo etched fret and clear sprue, moulded nose weights in metal and a step-up for HK with decals printed by Cartagraf offering German and French markings. The instructions are large and clear with steps presented so as not to confuse with too many parts to a section.

This looks like HK's most comprehensively detailed offering so far with full engines, fuel tank, cockpit and prop-shaft which all sits as a unit within the fuselage halves with lots of removable access panels to show off the work. This version (Destroyer) sports the huge 30mm cannon housings on the wings adding to the sleek, streamlined look of the 'Pfeil' with options to build either the M13 or M14 prototype aircraft. This really looks like a superb out of the box build, maybe some plumbing and wiring to complement what's moulded into the wheel wells and engines? This kit is a certain step up from HK with all of the internal and engine detail it will make a beautiful display piece, this standard of kit comes at a cost but you won't be disappointed. Our thanks to Neil from HK for our sample kit www.hk-models.com

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Gas Patch 1:48 Salmson 2A2 Mid Type Greece's own GasPatch Models are renowned Worldwide by Great War aviation modellers for their ultra-detailed upgrades and now they have the first of a range of full kits in forty-eighth, and subject of a full build feature in this issue. Inside the sturdy box are four sprues totalling 227 parts, 74 photo etched parts, a clear sprue, extensive decal sheet offering five versions and a laser cut assembly jig to set the wings to the fuselage. Starting with the plastic, the moulding is first-rate throughout with some very subtle and delicate details and features ultra thin wing edges. Full interior and engine detail is impressive with the addition of the photo etched parts this is a very detailed build from the box with

the modeller only left to source their own rigging. The laser cut jig has a actual size plan to place the assembled parts allowing accurate setting of the wing assemblies, a very worthwhile aid. Three French and two American marking options are provided on the superb decal sheet which are detailed in the full colour instruction booklet as multi-view profiles. The instruction booklet is presented as coloured CAD drawings, dare I say similar to Wingnuts Wings productions. An excellent quality kit all round which will please 1:48 modellers as you can see from our full build article in this issue.www.gaspatchmodels.com has more details on their top quality products.

Gas Patch Elite Accessories If you're checking out the Salmson kit on Gas Patch's website be sure to have a look at their range of accessories, the quality and detail is superb! To add to your latest Wingnuts project how about a Hotchkiss M 1914 delicately cast in resin complete with spent case bag, mount and ammo drum. A pair of German Spandau 08/15s are even more impressive with the hollow moulding of the

cooling sleeve, separate barrel and ammo belt- beautiful additional detail. The finishing touch to a full rigging job has to be turnbuckles and you won't find better than these, laser cut from metal with superb finesse but also strength. Available for various applications in 1:48 and 1:32.

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Revell 1:48 F-15 E Strike Eagle and bombs A re-release of Revell / Monogram's F-15 with an impressive selection of ordnance this time and two new sets of markings. We're reminded what a nice kit of the F-15 this is with some nice fine surface detail, the tooling standing up well throughout with everything cleanly moulded. The kit is pretty simple in construction and would prove a quick build with good levels of detail from the box. If you can't help but tinker with things this is a good base for super-detailing and now we have a full load of underwing stores (GBU 10 and 15, AIM-120B AMRAAM, AIM-9L and AN/AAQ-14 and 14 along with fuel tanks) and there's plenty of aftermarket parts around as this kit is over a decade old now. I'm sure many

Il-2 Shturmovik By Viktor Povinsky Published by Mushroom Models Publications A4 hardback format, 208 pages ISBN 978 8363678 37 1 www.mmpbooks.biz 48

will be happy enough to build straight from the box with some good old-fashioned modelling such as cleaning up the canopy moulding seam and some moulding flash, really the only signs that this isn't a more modern tooling. Decals are Desert Storm, one being 'Tiger Lead' paying homage to the 9/11 attacks and there's some challenging tiny markings but all beautifully printed. This is still a very nice kit, with the full quoter of weapons and new decals it's a heck of a lot of model for the money. Revell kits are available in all good toy and hobby shops. www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

MMP's 'White Series' always provides the modeller with comprehensive reference in these illustrated technical histories. The regular format of development, combat history, colour profiles, period photographs and walk-around close-up reference shots really make these great one-stop references. Plans are included in 1:72 and 1:48 of different versions and are well detailed right down to the rivets and highlighting of the differences between the

ground-attack, spotter, ship attack and others. Colour profiles span almost 160 pages so there's plenty to inspire that next project along with some great close-up reference of preserved aircraft should you want to add some detail with a good selection of helpful line-drawings reproduced from the original manuals. More well presented one-stop reference from MMP which always offers good value.

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Albatros Fighter Aircraft of WWI By Dave Douglass Published by Stratus for Mushroom Models Publications A4 hardback format, 42 pages ISBN 978 83 63678 57 9 www.mmpbooks.biz

For many modellers, the draw of WWI subjects is heightened by the beautiful colour schemes and graphics of the period and profile art of these early aviators is very popular and much research and deliberation continues on the actual representation of the colours used. This new 'Spotlight On' release from Stratus offers a short, but very sweet, look at some schemes of the famous Albatros D series. Artist and modeller, Mr Douglass, has produced these beautiful renders of some very fetching schemes (41 in total) in large format. The detail and textures are superb and would make great reference to transfer to your 3D model. The profiles are all side-on but with reference to the upper and lower wing colours. Very thin for a hardback book but the quality of the illustrations is certainly deserved of it.

Flex-i-File Touch N Flow Something we all use when assembling kits is adhesive with a liquid solvent being the most popular. Brush application is the usual method but there’s a limit to the ammount of solvent a brush will hold which can be frustrating when joining a long fuselage or wing parts. This syringe-style applicator from Flex-I-File allows a constant precise flow of solvent through an ultra fine tip, using capilory action to joint of the parts draws the solvent in forming a welded bond. The applicator tube is glass and the tip is metal so the solvent simply sits in the tube ready for use and doesn’t clog the tip. I achieved some pretty fine lines and found a series of ‘dots’ joined a fuselage easily followed by a fine line. I’d estimate half the applicator tube would easily join a 1:32 fighter fuselage. The 2oz jar of solvent should last a good while, the soft plastic bottle with the applicator attached is squeezed to draw the solvent from the bottle, full instructions are included which appear complicated at first but the process is simple when put into practice. I can really see a use for this precise, constant flow especially for larger parts, the applicator is simple and won’t need any cleaning making it ready for use when required. Thanks to Albion Alloys who are a distributor of Flex-I-File www.albionalloys.co.uk

German Instrument Panels Vol I. By Dariusz Karnas Published by Mushroom Models Publications A4 hardback format, 38 pages ISBN 978 83 63678 55 5 www.mmpbooks.biz

Here's one for the Luftwaffe detail fiends! This new release from MMP is devoted to cockpit instrument panels with large illustrations of the full panel and individual illustrations of each gauge with period manual excerpts and photographs to help things along. The quality of the drawings is excellent, detailed and sharp without being overdone as so to provide clear visual reference. Aircraft covered in this volume are; Bf 109F-4, Bf 110E, Fi 156 'Storch', Fw 190A-3, Hs 123 and Ju 88A-4.

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Revell 1:48 Panavia Tornado IDS Having seen test-shots around a year ago the wait is over for Tornado fans with a brand new tooling of the GR Series. Wrestling the sprues from the often frustrating open ended carton the kit immediately smacks of a new Revell production, the finely moulded light grey styrene showing some delicate detail and very sharp and crisp moulding throughout. With close to 300 parts the box is packed, and it's apparent that this will be an involved but very detailed build with most features included to keep serious modellers happy; positional wings and separate flaps and slats which will save money on aftermarket parts, detailed intake trunks, pipes and thrusters which can be displayed open or closed- all good news. A great choice of weapons are included although not all parts are used for the version depicted by the kit's decals, we also have the German air-to air refuelling set-up included. Only a full build will tell if the multi-part fuselage assembles with ease but it certainly looks like a well designed break-down of parts. Revell have shone in other areas such as the exhausts and cockpit with multi-part assemblies and good raised

instrument detail. Wheel wells and landing gear look nice with maybe some hydraulic lines the modeller could add if they feel the need and the tyres are void of tread and look a touch , not sure if this is an issue? Clear parts are excellent with detonator cord moulded into the canopy disguising any seam. The decals depict the 50th anniversary of the German Fighter-Bomber Wing and are beautifully printed, it would have been nice to have a more 'regular' alternative but undoubtedly Revell will release more versions of this kit. Be ready for some careful airbrush work with the tones of grey shifting to black. The only thing I'd have a gripe with are the instructions, with such an involved kit I think an extra few pages may have given less of a crammed and busy look to the diagrams. A really nice job by Revell and incredible value for money, Tornado fans will be sure to snap up at least a couple of these. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

Revell 1:48 Sepecat Jaguar GR.1A

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Sliding the sprues from the box this kit immediately looks familiar with it's chunky squared sprue runners, indeed, it's the Airfix / Heller tooling which appears unchanged. A simple kit then which is typical of the period it was first produced, moulding and detail is decent at best but perhaps not hitting the heady heights of the latest and greatest of modern tooling. Only two sprues, and the fuselage halves, have a little flash here and there and the clear parts are cleanly moulded. Many builders will be seeking aftermarket cockpit facias (decals in the kit) and seat belts

(thankfully nothing moulded to the seat) but there is a good choice of ordnance and fuel tanks. Decals are new, and usually a good reason to pick up one of these re-boxes; two RAF versions, GR.1A, No.41 Squadron, Coltishall 1987 and a GR.1 from 1979 with a fetching shark mouth. Decals include all generic stencils and weapons markings and are excellent quality. Revell kits are available in all good toy and hobby shops Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

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Revell 1:24 Bell UH-1 'Huey' A 1:24 Huey? After briefly seeing this kit on display on a Revell exhibition stand, it's hard not to be impressed by it's sheer size, and after receiving this production sample the storey unfolds…After lifting the box lid (huge chopper comments are best left in the playground thank you) it's obvious this is no modern state-of-the-art tooling but the fuselage halves have a highly polished finish to them making the rivet detail stand out, the reason for this (if I'm not mistaken) is this tooling is the original Revell / Monogram 'see-though' clear-bodied kit from the seventies (hence the polished finish to the tooling of the fuselage). Being a 1970s tooling the kit is best described as basic, but it's all there; interior, M60 clusters and rocket pods including flexible ammo chutes, engine and even a couple of pilot figures which are

crude at best. What we think this kit provides is an excellent basis for some old-school detailing, reference is plentiful on the Huey and everything is there as a starting point, ok so there's sink marks to fill and raised panel lines as we'd expect from a vintage kit, but the potential in this large scale is for a real stunner if done right! Thankfully the clear mouldings are decent as are the decals with a USMC and US Army option. As well as a good basis for some extra work this kit would be perfect for younger modellers just as it is, a very big model for a very small amount of money. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

Revell 1:72 Vickers Wellington Mk.II A new release from Revell but this is in fact the MPM kit which has been around for about a decade now. The Mk.II 'Wimpey' really looks the part with it's Merlin engines giving a slightly sleeker look to the pot-bellied bomber and the sprues still look well moulded with decent levels of detail present. There's enough going on inside the visible parts of the nose to look the part in this small scale, no option is given to display the bomb-bay so be prepared for major surgery if this is a must for your build. With many parts unused from other versions on the sprues, this is a simple build and a good basis for extra detail should you wish to spend the

time. A major bug-bear with Wellington kits has always been how to show the famous geodetic structure of the airframe, this tooling shows it better than some in subtle relief which you could easily knock-back further with sanding or Mr Surfacer should you wish. two marking options are provided, both from '41 and with the black lower surfaces one being an RAF of 104 Squadron and one 405 Squadron of the RCAF. So a decent Wimpey at a decent price, a welcome re-box from Revell. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

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Italeri 1:48 G.91 P.A.N. 'Frecce Tricolori' An old Esci kit here with the statement on the striking box art of 'Upgraded Moulds', so after getting over the blue sprues (!) what's new? Not having the older release to hand as a comparison we can only presume that there's been improvements to the tooling to sharpen-up the surface detail as it looks very delicate although we still have raised panel lines. With the two simple sprues there's the inclusion of weapons and cannon options and the pointed

nose cone to build a combat version of this pretty little post-war jet, taking these parts away to build the display team version, this should assemble in no more than a few hours. The decals are bright and punchy but appear a little thick, maybe only because of the gloss finish? All of the tail numbers for the team members are included. A decent kit still but working on those raised panel lines could be a challenge with the rivet detail adjacent.

Pheon Decals

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First up from Pheon are a range of ten marking options for the 1:48 (Eduard) Siemens Schuckert D.III. offering a wide range of finishes including a Swiss aircraft. Along with the high quality decal sheet Pheon provide detailed information on each option and general historical notes on the Schuckert and colour information as both text and printed profile illustrations, 48037 is the product code. Next is a very welcome couple of sets for anyone planning the HK 1:32 Meteor as a project, if you remember from our build of the test shot of the kit the decals

didn't quite hit the standard set by the rest of the kit and these offered by Pheon certainly look superior. Each set contains two options and a sheet of very comprehensive airframe stencils with very dense colours and finely detailed print with excellent placement instructions and profiles with some interesting notes, did you know the lip around the engine intakes were made of wood? Me neither…www.pheondecals.com is the place to visit and make a purchase.

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HGW Models Always pushing for the ultimate in finesse, the guys from HGW further expand their range of beautiful seatbelt sets. Pre-printed laser cut fabric and photoetch assemble as per the real thing for the ultimate cockpit detail, all these sets are in 1:32. 132521 Sopwith Snipe (late), 132530 Ju88 A-4, 132538 AMC DH.9, 132546 Do 335B-2 Pfeil and 132548 for the Spitfire Mk.II. Something new now which does away with the age-old problem of silvering around decals caused by the carrier film. These wet transfers are applied as regular water-slides and left to dry for 3-4

Japanese Fighters, In defence of the Homeland, 1941-1944 Vol.I. By L.A. Wieliczko Published by Kagero A4 softback format, 76 pages ISBN 978 83 64596 06 3 www.casematepublishing.co.uk www.mmpbooks.biz

hours, then the fine carrier film which sits on the top is removed leaving only the print in place- superb! We think this combines the best features of both dry rub-downs and water-slides. In 1:48 is 248009 for Bf 109F,G and K covering airframe stencils and some national markings and insignia as does 232006 in 1:32. 232008 is for 1:32 P-51s with comprehensive markings. The print detail is excellent with detailed instructions. www.hgwmodels.cz is the place for more details on HGW’s superb quality range of upgrades and accessories.

This number 21 in the 'Air Battles' series by Kagero has me a little misled by the title. Japanese aviation enthusiasts I'm sure would expect cover-to-cover of Zeros, Hiens, Hayates and the like, which granted, are included, but there is just as much of the book dedicated to the American bombing strategy and particular raids (Doolittle for example) Perhaps this volume one serves as a background to the events unfolding? This aside, the contents are presented with style, period photos are helped by diagrams, tables and maps to give a concise history of the conflict and general reference to the combat history of the fighters with photos showing overall views. Kagero always show superb colour profiles, no disappointment here with eight pages of large format side views to the highest standards. This is more of a historical format as suggested by the 'Air Battles' series title rather than a reference of Japanese fighters suggested by the title, a very nice book nevertheless. As always, our thanks to Casemate Publishing for keeping us up to date with Kagero releases.

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Revell 1:72 Saab JAS-39C Gripen A newly tooled kit now of the Gripen from Revell which will please seventy-second modellers as it's long overdue. First impressions of the sprues are really good with Revell's nice pale grey styrene showing off the subtle detail a treat. The multi-part fuselage indicates we'll see more versions (namely a two-seater). The usual landing gear options are offered with decent plug-in detail for the wheel wells and we also have an option to open the air brakes and open the canopy too. A good choice of ordnance is offered and thankfully both belly and wing-mounted fuel tanks will give a really busy and interesting underside to display. the cockpit is a

multi-part build and looks very well detailed for the scale. An insert into the tail provides a touch of engine detail an an option on the position of the petals is a nice touch. This is a really nice looking kit of the Gripen, a massive leap from anything else on the market but one gripe(n!) is that the sprue connection points are quite beefy in places. Decals are superb with a regular Swedish version and a fetching Tiger Meet special scheme of the Czech Air Force 211 Squadron with detailed markings for all of the ordnance. Well done Revell, many will be looking forward to more versions of this kit. For details visit www.revell.de/en

Revell 1:72 F/A-18C Hornet

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Another outing here for Revell's Hornet in seventy-second with the offering of some handsome new decals. The two sprues are looking rather dated with raised panel lines and very generic looking seats (twin seater configuration is included although not suited to the decals included). A good selection of underwing stores is included, some of which will be left over and bound for the spares box along with optional exhausts which are quite nicely done. Some surgery will be required should you wish to pose the canopy open as the frame requires cutting, only needed if you're

adding aftermarket detail to the cockpit as what the kit provides is all there but rather basic.The decal sheet is top-notch and worth the cost of the kit alone, VFA-151, USS Abraham Lincoln, Lemoore NAS, 2007 with the striking orange on black tails and 'Vigilantes' across the fuselage. Decent kit to work on at a pocket money price.Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

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Hobby Elements Moulding Flash Sander A new tool here from a new company, Hobby Elements. Designed to fit into a 3mm chuck of a motor tool or drill these very high quality sanding burrs (labeled as flash sanders) are just as useful as hand tools for those delicate sanding jobs on styrene or resin. Five grades are offered in the package, the finest resulting in a very smooth finish ready to paint. The fine point allows access to some very fine detail, these will make very swift work of any laborious clean-up of mould flash or resin parts. The precission of the ‘cone’ will make these equally useful to enlage holes or thin edges and will certainly find a place on our workbench. Available to order via their facebook page (HobbyElements) or directly emailing [email protected] where you’ll be sent an invoice including shipping to your part of the World. Recommended additions to the toolbox.

32092

48275

48278

32091

72098

48274

72101

32090

48276

72097

48277

72099 Scale Aircraft Conversions Some new white metal landing gear upgrades from SAC starting with 1:72; 72097 for Tamiya’s F-16, 72098 for Hasegawa’s Su-35S, 72099 for Zvezda/Revell’s Mi-26, 72100 for Hasegawa’s F-14 and 72101 for Hasegawa’s MiG-15. In 1:48 there’s 48274 for the F-15, 48275 for Kitty Hawk’s F-35C, 48276 for Trumpeter’s A-37, 48277 for Avante Garde’s Aero L-29 and 48278 for the Airfix Folland Gnat.

Finishing in 1:32 HK’s new Do 332 gets a set of sturdy legs with 32090, Revell’s rerelease of the Beaufighter 32091 and 32092 for Fly’s Ar 234B. SAC are sure to have a set to suit your latest project, check www.scaleaircraftconversions.com for details.

72100

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Revell 1:72 Dassault Mirage 2000D This handsome Mirage two seater has been released by more manufacturers than we care to remember and I'm afraid the tooling is showing it's age now with some soft surface detail on the fuselage, in fact the underside of the delta wing has the best panel detail hidden away! The moulding is generally clean with minimal flash across this pretty basic kit, weapons are the up-to-

date set up as deployed in Libya and Afghanistan, again, detail is basic but workable. The two posable canopies are clean and clear and we have a new decal sheet with two options of French markings from 2014 beautifully printed. A decent base kit with plenty of aftermarket options available. For details visit www.revell.de/en

PEJE Model Struggling to get a satisfactory wood-grain effect on you WWI project? this could be the answer with real wood props for a wide range of applications and scales. Suitable grains and colours have been chosen and the shapes and thicknesses look convincing. My only comment would be the laquer looks a touch shiny and may look better with a quick going over with some fine wire-wool or polishing compound for a more scale appearance? To see the full wide range go to www.http://wooden-propeller.eshop-zdarma.cz where you can shop online, ‘Samples’ section has product photos

Revell 1:72 Dassault Rafale M

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More French fancy in seventy-second, and again, this is an old kit (Italeri's originally if I'm not mistaken?) The airframe is split in clam fashion with the upper wings and fuselage as one which is joined to the lower making this a super simple build. Detail isn't great unfortunately with raised panel lines and generally pretty simplified

throughout- a real 'weekend' kit if you fancy a break from the super detailing and research. A real bonus as usual in these reveal re-boxes are the decals, two French Marine markings here including an anniversary '90 ans 11F / 10 ans Rafale 12F, the decal quality is excellent and very comprehensive.

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In this article I want to show, that the construction of a model can be carried out without being pretentious, and without having to spend a fortune on detail sets, but most of all, finding the spirit of building a model, without the stress of obsessive detail. Sometimes, this extreme search of perfect detail, can discourage even the most tenacious modeller, and be counter productive for the completion of the project. As we all know there are modellers more capable than others. Those who

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manage to create out of nothing, a unique piece, a small masterpiece. Those who spend hours detailing the nacelles, and close it at the end, leaving only a picture to record all the work. Those who cling to tenths of a millimeter, in measurements of the models and which uncover defects everywhere. And those who are having fun, building models, and those who relax and unwind from work and spend a few hours a week to have fun.

Good construction and successful painting are a winning combination. Patience too as all brands are not like Tamiya which are correct 99.99% of the time. I believe that the commitment, and the resources spent in research and design, however, must be appreciated when developing new models. However, it is strange that today with computer aided design that gross errors can be produced by some of the model kit companies.

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Academy’s huge Hornet in 1:32 modelled by Girolamo Lorusso

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The quantity of parts in the Academy box is enormous. Almost nine hundred parts, not all of which can be used, with some dedicated to other versions. There are many under wing weapon loads offered, but in reality, few are commonly used by this aircraft. In a few months I was able to assemble this model from the box without encountering major problems of construction, except for a few points. The construction goes smoothly, the pieces fit together very well, thanks to the good quality of the plastic. Several different construction possibilities are offered by the kit, the weapons, the folding wings, the control surfaces, radar and figures. Excellent decals, printed by Cartograf are included but not aesthetically very interesting. The box offers two version of the famous "Chippy-Ho" of VFA-195 Dumbusters. Hence my decision to adopt a sheet of MAW Decals, printed by Microscale for the latest version of the F18C, which forced me to change the ejection seat, from SJU-5/6 to the SJU-17. One of the reasons that convinced me not

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to use a replacement for the cockpit interior, it was to see the instrument panel moulded by Academy, after having seen pictures of it on the screen of my PC. In the cockpit I added some missing details, easily constructible following the photos in the book published by Daco. In the end, a good paint finish brings out all the details and the kit cockpit proved itself more than adequate. I followed the construction of the model according to the diagrams but I jumped about between different areas rather than working consecutively In any case, the construction proceeded without any major hitches. The only small one I encountered was in the bonding of the first stage of the air intakes, which was badly fitting with the sides of the fuselage, and the two main pieces of the fuselage. Some Milliput gave me a hand at this stage. In addition to filling the gaps, and following the curves of this particular area. The other area that gave me a hard time was the transition between the LERX and the front section of the fuselage. I had to glue the two sides at

different times, so that the glue had a good grip. Unfortunately, the blank parts were filled with the plasticard and putty. The junction between the front portion and rear of the fuselage also required more attention when gluing. I had to strengthen the two contact areas by passing through the holes, plastic rods which ensured a correct alignment and greater solidity. This area has formed a step that I filled with CA glue and acrylic resin powder. Compared to normal fillers, this method is much faster and you can rework without the fear that the filler will crack under the pressure of the engraver, compared to traditional fillers. The rest of the construction ran smoothly without finding any major obstacles. It only took a few dry fittings, to understand how to fit the pieces, so as to avoid having to do more filling work later. Some minor filling can be made with Mr.Surface 500, applying it with a brush, and then removing the excess with a cotton swab, soaked with Gunze thinner Gunze, giving a clean and fast result.

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The undercarriage of the model, has been designed to accommodate, within the plastic parts, metal cores, that guarantee a greater solidity once assembled. Unusually, the front undercarriage leg, has to be mounted during construction, creating some minor discomfort in the handling of the model. Once the legs have been assembled the plastic legs are accompanied by all the hydraulic lines of the braking system which are particularly complex for the main gear. The main colour is a bright white, which is followed by a series of selective washes with oil colours using shades of brown. For the wheels, I used the vinyl kit tires (they are

also supplied plastic.) To make them look real, I used a technique often used by those who model motorcycles. I used sandpaper to distress the surface of the tread, while installed on mini drill, and spun at low speeds. The resulting surface finish is very close to that of a real tire. At the end of this process and with the painting completed, I glued the tires onto the hubs.

Its elimination is necessary and armed with sanding sticks and fine abrasive Micromesh cloths, the line is removed and the area is polished up to its original transparent shine. I also used both wax and abrasive pastes, from Tamiya, and eventually dipped them in Future polish as the finishing touch for maximum brilliance.

The canopy and the windshield have a moulding seam necessary for the correct undercut for the mould but, but a problem for the modeller.

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Having mompleted all subassemblies and put together all parts, the model is ready for painting, but not before being cleaned with a wash with a little dishwashing detergent. To paint this model, I used three shades of grey. Clearly, the scheme used is the T.P.S. the Navy’s relentlessly grey, which can only be enlivened by the touches of colour, from the individual squadron markings. I started pre-shading

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the model with the black, blue, brown, and sand. Then I created spots for the highlights to a maximum with white. After this preparation I have spread two coats of Humbrol 127 and 128, and 145, for camouflage, spacing them with light strokes of sand and blue between the respective cycles. After that, with the 2000 sandpaper wetted in water, I sanded the entire model, in order to obtain a

homogeneous surface and prepare the base for the next stage performed with the Xtracolor colours, X-135, X-136, and X 126. In preparation for the decals I painted exterior surfaces of the fins and centreline tank "Insigna Blue", X-122, following the instructions of the decals sheet chosen by me as a viable alternative to the kit decals I chose, a Marine scheme, very "American", but much more sober.

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The decals sheet is from MAW Decals, printed by Microscale. These have proven to be, despite my fears, considerably better than those from the kit, printed by Cartograf. The great white shields on the fins, have conformed to all the rivets in the the surface, and the carrier film disappears after successive layers of varnish, as opposed to those from Cartograf, where it begins to be discernable. A pity, because the decals "made in Italy", they are very good and their printing is beyond reproach. The application of the decals was performed by adopting the proven system with Microscale Micro Set & Sol. I allowed the decals to dry for a couple of days, and protected with the usual layers of varnish. I started the stage I like the most - the aging. The only real secret of this step is a careful study of real planes. I collected a lot of photos of F-18, and of the sample chosen by me, to create the same

type of wear and dirt. The characteristic areas of the F-18, where dirt is deposited, are the surface of the semi wings and the lower zones of the engines. For aging, I used the classic oil colours and various shades of transparent colours from Gunze and Tamiya reproducing the colour of smoke, and Gunze H-307 and H-308, for fine-tuning of camouflage. The variations of the same colours for camouflage, helped create different shades and tones in the base colours. Modern aircraft are almost all characterized by low visibility grey camouflage, which can be monotonous as a modelling subject, but from my point of view, this where the true modelling challenge lies in bringing this to life. The armament was completed with all its accessories and painted in a way that does not make it look too uniform. The choice is wide but, not all the loads can be transported and clearly, depending on the

mission to be carried out. I chose a real and consistent configuration, the CAS Asymmetric load two tanks, the pair of AIM-9M, two MK-82, an AGM-65, and the POD FLIR AN/AAS-38A. The remaining loads will be saved, The rough surface of the bombs was simulated with putty liquid Mr.Surface 1000, stippled with a stiff bristled brush before it starts to harden. The layer must be consistent, in order to respect the scale sizes. The base is made from a piece of cardboard, 3 mm thick, painted with synthetic colours, and refining it through the cracks and stains various, brush and airbrush, in shades similar to cement, not using colours ready on the market, but based on the true colours.

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The model is ready to receive the final details, such as the canopy, pylons with their loads and if you wish, you can take advantage of the figures of the box, creating a very simple scene. The final touch is to give the transparent parts, with cotton soaked in wax Future, to make them shine more. The final judgment of this model is positive. The time taken to build it from the box, it was pretty short, about four months, with some very minor difficulty. Its footprint is manageable despite the 1:32 scale.

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KIT: ACADEMY ACA12104 DECALS: MAW DECALS COD. 32-MAW002 Big Scale Crusaders SEAT: LEGEND COD 3213 MARTIN BEKER SJU-17. COLOURS: FS 36320: HUMBROL 128, XTRACOLOR X-135, GUNZE Sangyo H-307 FS 36375: HUMBROL 127, XTRACOLOR X-136, GUNZE Sangyo H-308 FS 35237: HUMBROL 145, XTRACOLOR X-126, GUNZE Sangyo H-337 FS 15044: XTRACOLOR X-122, FS 17 875: XTRACOLOR X-141 65

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