Murdo, I am in awe! If I didn't know I would have guessed your work was at 1/72. How you painted those tiny figures I would love to know.

Awesome Tornado Murdo !!!

Really nice work Murdo on that Tornado. You managed to get a superb result. Love those figures. They fit with it brilliantly.

Well.. here the A-model update



But I have to be honest, I'm running out of patience with this kit...

If the Campaign Manager allows it... can I change into this one ?







If I'm allowed, I'll keep working on it.
If not ... I might keep trying working on that kit

First WIP pics. Been working with the resin cockpit. Here I've started removing the instrument panel coaming from the upper fuselage half. The instructions of the Aires cockpit are typical. In addition to not having any kind of info on painting (guess they reason that people buying resin accessories tend to know their kit subjects?), they also don't point out any modifications required to the kit parts, apart from a brief mention of the need of "trimming of plastic parts and dry-fitting."

It's interesting to note the parts break-down of the spine - you could have pretty much bet your money on Hasegawa releasing two-seater trainer variants. Except that they never did. Well, at least it's an easier platform for conversion sets than the 1:48 kits.

As the Aires cockpit instructions didn't tell how to trim the kit parts and where to fit the resin replacement, I had to resort to reference photos to determnine the front of the spine had to be carved out, with the resin part going under it. Despite trying to be careful, I carved too much styrene out of the spine and had to glue in a shim of styrene sheet.

There's still some gaps that will need putty, but still much better than without the shim. As trimming away the front of the spine also removed the locating pin in the front, I dry-fitted the cockpit tub in place while gluing the spine in place to ensure it's aligned properly.

Another modular feature of the kit, the separately molded rear fuselage. Again, while there hasn't been many other variants released to take advantage of this part break-down, aftermarket conversion sets have been released.

Unlike the newer 1:48 scale kit, this 1:72 scale one doesn't have a proper exhaust pipe between the afterburner nozzle and the turbine plate part. I wonder if it would be worth it to build a pipe there?

Cockpit done and...


Bodywork ok. There is a slight problem on the air intake but I'll meddle with it if it still shows after the initial metalic cote...I know it will but I am pushing my luck. Drilled some holes for the rocket mounts which I niked from a Revell P-47M I built earlier. To be honest I shot these photos last week but didn't have time to upload them. Canopy is placed and masking is ready. Why am I not painting it...who knows...

Inching closer to completion. The lid's on and the interior framework colour painted.

Nice work Jessica !

Still working on the Su-15





But then I noticed the radar cone was not how it should be, so I got it right as the instructions told... damn it looked like a crooked nose, like Alain Prost's nose, anyway...
I got mad, this kit is a real nightmare..



Just kept the decals.. rest is plastic trash.

I really like that aircraft..











A slim, fast cold war interceptor.

Not like my Amodel kit



So I kepr working on my plan B, the Mighty Mustang

Maybe you could enter it into the Groundforce diorama campaign? Your half way there already.
We've all been there with these crappy kits. Been there myself with a PM Mirage. Ended up being more milliput than plastic. Only good that came from it was practice rescribing panel lines.
If you don't mind me asking, what do you plan on doing with the weapons set?

Well nothing much.. it would follow the rest of the kit..

Do you want it ?

Don't worry John. Now you've got 1/3 of the dead models needed to do this

Now that is cool!
John I did feel a little cheeky for asking, but if they're going and if your offering, I can make use of some of the bits. Thanks

Some more progress. It's obvious that the canopy will not fit closed very well. Good thing I want to display it open

I don't understand how it is posible to achieve such marvellous results in such a tiny scale

Colour!


Still some tidying up to do before I pronounce the paint job complete.

Hi everyone

It's been a while since I posted any progress on my build(which is rather slow), but thanks to all those for the comments.

Dryfitted for size


Base coat of dark green and highlighted with yellow green, together with a black wash




Nice to see more photos of other builds. Keep up the good work guys. More to follow soon (hopefully)

If it is not too late i would love to jump into this campaign, since i have not done any models for several months i thought perhaps something simple like the hawker typhoon 1b in 1:72 from airfix

Hello Simon, you can certainly enlist in this campaign, it runs to the end of July. Its up to you whether its too late to finish in that time.
here is the campaign page with all the details, click on the ENLIST button to add yourself to the roster.

I had to go back six pages to find out I havent touched my entry in this campaign for six weeks!
So I just ordered Alclad paint, three different shades, so next week I will be back with shiny metal planes!

Update



Cockpit will be next..

Ok well i made a start on the typhoon today. Well i say that but in reality i looked at what is supposedly the cockpit in this kit and thought i can do better. Man i am stupid, why did i do it?


the sprues


my slightly make shift attempt at a cockpit and bucket seat




yeah there are reasons why I normally avoid scratchbuilding and yeah the paint colour is very very wrong. Its going to take some work but this will eventually start to look atleast half decent!!

That's a fine tiny cockpit detail. The smaller scales are quite forgiving, that'll look great when its closed up.

Lots of great progress in this thread!! I got the Furball Decals applied to the "Super Fox". Great decals and highly recommended. I should be ready to flat coat this week.


GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Regards, Ian

Hi all I know this is a little off topic but would any of you happen to know where I could get hold of some silver city air lines decals for a 1:72 Bristol Mk 32 superfreighter because my grand father used to fly one for silver city so I thought it would be good to do one in silver city colours. Of anyone can help please let me know that would be great, thanks