Hello Andy,

Great job on the SHAR! by the way, how does this kit build? is there any headaches with it?

Sincerely,
Brian

Brian

It's better than the Airfix Sea King, but that's not saying much. I'ts not too bad, maybe i've been spoilt by building these two at the same as a Tamiya Mosquito.

Quite a bit of the panel line detail has need to be re scribed due to the need to fill, but it's a nice kit.

The major problem is the pitot tube, which i have managed to knock off, cos i'm a bit ham fisted at times.

Andy

I will probably save my Chinook for the twin spinners campaign. I do not want to rush it, so I have decided to build it some time next year. My entry will therefore be the Harrier.

Hi all!

Brian, Your Tracker looks great!
Another Grumman product I would want to build in 1/48.

Andy, that SHAR is looking really good so far!
I´ll build the Airfix Sea Harrier in 1/48.
Pavla have made two sets for this kit, one contains the intakes and the four nozzels, the other contains new stabilizators and flaps.
With a new bang-seat too, It will look really good! (I´ll do It with the canopy closed anyway!)

Just to show that my Macchi Is progressing;





Gone is the horrid orange plastic color, replaced by a nice and soft cammo in brown and green!

Looks much better now, eh?

Cheers!

Stefan E

Hello everyone,

It’s great to see your models coming together. Hard to believe we have only six more weeks to go! I just finished reading this book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the “Falklands War” It’s a fascinating insight about the FFA role in the conflict. It also a good lesson in being a leader and manager of people.



I’m moving forward with several models. I applied a wash to the Grumman Tracker and while waiting on it I decided to start painting the Super Etendard. Here is the progress so far.







Sincerely,
Brian

Looks good, Brian

Stefan, sounds interesting, but your pictures do not show. At least not on my PC

Thanks for sharing, guys

Hi!

Now I can see my pics again!
Yesterday they were gone and now they are back again.

They have been coming and going the last few days!

Seems like my picture-host is still re-organizing, very annoying!

Cheers!

Stefan E

I can see the pictures again, Stefan. Nice progress you have made. Looking forward to meet you in the sky over the Falklands. I do not think your Macchi will be a challenge for my Seaharrier

Looking forward to see more

Hello everyone,

Stefan, I look forward to viewing your Macchi when completed. I thought now would be a good time to update "The List".

Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

I have finished my second entry for the campaign, an Argentine Navy Grumman Tracker. The masking for the canopy came out better than I thought. I needed to touch up a few places were some paint peeled off but not to bad. Good quality photographs of low visibility trackers are few and far between. But based on what I was able to see this should be fairly accurate. After the war the Trackers were re-furbished by Israel with Turbo-prop engines.











Merry Christmas!

Brian

Hi all!

NIIICE Tracker Brian!

This is one Grumman aircraft I miss in 1/48!

You gotta love all those aircrafts from the Grumman "Ironworks"!

Jesper, I´m going fast and low and hope you won´t see me as the Harrier was the real predator in the Malvinas!

Yes, I have that book by Com. "Sharkey" Ward!
Found it cheap (only £2!) in Scotland last summer, It´s a exciting read to say the least!

In fact, so exciting that I will start building a Sea Harrier FRS-1 soon!
It will be the old Airfix 1/48 kit;



I´ll build it with some resin additions by Pavla as intakes, nozzels, stabs. flaps and such, a new resin seat will also be added.

Time to cut new plastic again!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Jesper, soon I´ll be flying wingman to you, covering your a'''!

Hello Stefan,

Your right about the Grumman. A 1/48 tracker would be quite the model! A pat on the back to you for starting another Harrier so close to the end of the Campaign. I will have the Super Etendard finished by the end of the Campaign. I would like to finish the Mirage Dagger but with trying to finish my MIG-29 for the VVS build and a P-39 for the Asia Rumble and a F6F-5 for the Riverine Campaign I don't think I will be able to. By the way how did the Aeromacchi turn out? I assume you are finished or close to being finished? and don't forget to post some completed pictures in the photo gallery.

Sincerely,
Brian

I have finally got back to the model bench after work tried killing me since mid November (never known it to be so busy before Xmas before ) where I started a Airfix 1/72nd Vulcan B Mk 2.
As usual with Airfix kits the fit is terrible, it has raised panel lines and the detail is pretty sparse. It will be built OOB as its a present for the Mother In Law (who just loves the Vulcan)
I shall post some progress pics once I have dusted it off .
Andy

Great looking Tracker, Brian.

Looking forward to see the rest of your small air force.

Hi Brian and all!

Well, starting a kit is easy enough, but finish It is very much harder!

I don´t think I will be able to finish It within the Campaign!
But now I have all the parts I need and the inspiration Is high, so I will have a go now!

Now some Macchi news;

After the camouflage was done I glosscoated the model.





Then It was time to get the decals on.
Here the work is in full swing!



Those decals are beautifully printed by Cartograph and went down without a hitch!
They need a high gloss surface to avoid silvering and Micro-set is helpful or they will stick Immediately!

A flat coat and a black antiglare panel came next!



As trainers usually are very well maintained, and the new paint hardly would have had time to fade, I kept the weathering to a minimum.

After the demasking I added all the small bits and pieces.

She Is DONE!
Actually I finished the model yesterday, on New Years Eve, last finished kit for 2007!













First model down, now to the next!

Happy New Year to all!

Stefan E

Nice Macchi, Stefan. Nice to finish it just before New Year, then there is time for a new "New Year resolution" about making more models in 2008 than 2007 or something like that
My New Years resolution is to diminish my stash.

Hello everyone,

Glad to see more aircraft completed and in the works. We even have a Vulcan! keep up the pace. I am close to finishing the Super Etendard, pictures soon to follow!

Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

I started to apply the decals that came with the kit. They were kinda difficult to remove from the backing even after soaking in water but they did not break (At least not until I got them on the model) The white became see through in a couple of letters and numbers which bummed me out. I have decals for the tail fin flash but I am thinking of just painting the tail marking just as I did for the Grumman Tracker. I am really close to having this finished. I better update the table for all of the builds as well.



Sincerely,
Brian

Hey everyone,

Here is the updated list. Let me know if we need to make changes.

Sincerely,
Brian

Hi!

Nice Etendard, Brian.

BUT....

La Muerte negras eeessss á coooming!

You better Watch out, here comes;





I started right away with this kit and the cockpit was done with the kit decals, wich worked surprisingly well!





I remeberd I had an old Airfix BaE Red Arrows Hawk I had messed up the paintjob on!
It was well beyond recovery and had been sitting on the shelf for almost three years!
Most important was that I had put in two Neomega MB10 bangseats, same seats as the Sea Harrier uses!
Said and done, I robbed these seats from the Hawk and ditched the rest of the kit, except some parts for the sparesbox!

Cockpit with the new seat;



I will build this kit with the canopy closed so I did not spend much time detailing here!

After cutting out the rudder, the fuselage could be closed;



Flaps and alerions on the wings were also carefully trimmed away before they were glued together.




So far the fit has been very good, altough this kit lacks in detail!

When on vacation in Scotland last summer I found this neat little kit in a souvenir and hobby shop in Oban.
As It was very cheap I bought it!



I was very dissapointed as this kit was not better then Airfix, I found it to be quite off in fuselage shape!
I knew I would never build this, but the small details were excellent and well defined and the decals was of very good quality!

Here´s a comparison between some details, Airfix is dark grey, Tamiya lighter grey.

Outriggers and wheels;



Missiles;



So, with a bit of kitbashing and the new Pavla resin bits plus "new" Neomega seats, this might be a good model of the little Jump Jet!



I have finished reading the "Harriers over Falklands" book by Cmdr. "Sharkey" Ward, a VERY exciting read!
I´d recommend this book to anyone interested in aircraft life and Sea Harriers!

From the beginning i wanted to do a Pre-war 800 aircraft, but after reading this book I would never do this option!
No, I believe I´ll go for the aircraft "Sharkey" flew in 801st sqn. , in the markings it had when they departed for the Falklands.
Markings for "Sharkeys" "own" DSG/White ac Is provided on the Tamiya sheet, and the Airfix sheet gives you the markings for a 801 sqn. ac (no. XZ455/000) in the all-DSG scheme, complete with painted-out roundels!
There were no personal ac during the war, pilots got the ac readily on hand!

Tough decision, as I probably won´t be able to build the ac within the campaign, both are possible!

If you read the book, You´ll understand my reluctance against 800 sqn!


Cheers!

Stefan E

Hello Stefan,

Thank you for the compliment on the Etendard. I plan on painting the tail fin tonight after my kids go to bed Your work on the kit and cross mixing parts is interesting. I'm confident your Harrier will look great. Don't worry about the time remaining. Since we have several members with projects going I am considering a general extension of two weeks for everyone and then wrap it up no matter what.

I invested heavily in "Falklands" aircraft kits and I intend to build them all. I may use some for future group builds if applicable, if not I will build them anyway. Maybe we can start an unofficial build blogg for these kits in the pre-flight forum? Sort of like the unofficial Spanish Civil War group build. If you or anyone else in interested in that let me know via a P.M.

I'm glad you found the book interesting. It's amazing to me how the two air groups operated with such different ideas / preferences, yet everything worked out in the end. Right or wrong I really found myself identifying with "Sharkey Ward".

Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

I was able to get the fin flash taken care of. What a pain. I should have painted it like I said but I decided to use the decals and they were crap. The not only did not fit but they cracked. I did have an extra set from an old Superscale sheet and I used them. I added the underwing pylons, some small detail painting and kit bashed a pilot from a defunct Jolly Green Giant kit I have. I'm getting closer……..



Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

Well, I'm bummed the Etendard suffered a major setback today. While spraying a gloss coat to seal the decals the worse happened. The gloss Blue paint cracked and started to peel.



I was just about to finish the kit. I really wanted to add an Etendard to the finished campaign. I hope Alpha Tango can follow up with his build.
I was thinking about stripping it and starting over, is oven cleaner the best stripper?

Sincerely,
Brian

Hi Brian

looks good !!! and I bet you will overcome the small setback!

I will have problems to finish my kit in time ..... I was ill last week (end) and so I am late for all campaigns I entered ... rats ... still, I try.

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Brian, seems like you are too hard on yourself. It looks ok in the pictures. Could be because it is difficult to see peeling in the picture, but it does not look too bad to me. Maybe you could make a close up of the damage?

It would be a pity to take of aæll the paint and decals as I think it looks good.
Maybe some very light sanding and touch up to save the build?