jopres57

I heard someone on telly recently saying that the hand and eye coordination required by scale modellers is good for your mental health, especially as you get a bit older. I'm not sure how accurate this is but it seems to be good news and an excellent excuse to keep buying kits.

I would like to see another Harvard in 1/72 scale or even the old one re-released as a vintage classic. A 1/24 model would be good but I think it's unlikely to be made by Airfix. It's difficult to anticipate new releases because the Airfix staff seem to be very good at keeping secrets.

Some good ideas there. A 1/72 Stingray would be a great kit although I don't know exactly how big it would be. Watching the old series it's hard to judge the exact size of Stingray, it may be the size of a Flower class sloop.

Thanks for the positive comments. If this new Liberator kit lasts for over sixty years as well it won't do too badly. After building the old version I can believe it had the most working parts. Bits and pieces that moved were a big selling point back in the day. Most people didn't seem to care then that there often wasn't much distinction between toys and models.

The shortly to be released 1/72 Liberator H is very good news and I'll be certain to buy at least one. Its predecessor , the J version, dates from 1963 and has had a lot of stick from people claiming it is toy-like and inaccurate. It obviously isn't the best of kits compared to todays offerings, but it was a welcome addition back in the day and still doesn't look too bad with a coat of paint and some colourful markings. This is one that I built some time ago and has decals from a Superscale sheet. There must still be a few of these in the stashes of plastic kit fans so its probably a good idea not to write them off completely.

The Jadlam model shop have a display of the artwork for this. Don't know how they obtained it because I can't find it anywhere else. The other marking option is apparently another olive drab version with a picture of the statue of liberty on the nose. Underneath is a prominent red scroll with the name 'Valiant Lady'

I would also like to see the British sets mentioned. It seems slightly optimistic to say the least to have all of them released but I think they would sell. Many Wehrmacht sets are available from other manufacturers so the variety is not unprecedented.

That's a good point, 1/600 scale ships seem to have been almost forgotten over recent years. It looks like there's some disappointment in the latest Airfix offerings but at least the re-release of HMS Ajax and HMS Iron Duke is good news. Lets hope we see a new tool 1/600 kit soon, its well overdue and I'm sure people will buy it.

I still have some Airfix magazines from the sixties. They were good value in those days, with plenty of information packed into some fairly small pages. Conversions with plastic card, balsa wood, and other bits and pieces were usually featured. Nowadays virtually any model can be built from a kit and sometimes with after market accessories. I prefer the latter method but I know that some people think that home made conversions are the sign of a real modeller. It's just good to have the choice.

Thanks for the feedback on this. I think the Mirage is a fine looking aircraft and a good plastic model, as are most kits that look fast and are painted silver. Regarding the Aeronauts, I gather that a dvd box set was produced, but sold out a long time ago. It seems to confirm that the series had quite a few fans.

Looking online a while ago I noticed an after-market decal sheet by Berna Decals that included markings for several Mirage 111C’s in 1/72 scale. A couple of these depicted aircraft that were filmed during the TV series ‘The Aeronauts’ from the early seventies, anyone else remember this? It was originally a French series, but I understand about nineteen episodes were dubbed into English and shown on the BBC. As an aircraft mad youngster at the time the programme, showing the adventures of a French jet squadron, was a favourite of mine. I think the Mirage 111 was an exceptional warplane and would have made a better NATO aircraft than the Starfighter under different circumstances. The Airfix Mirage 111C is an elderly kit but still looks good and hopefully it will re-appear as a Vintage Classic at some point. The top picture is an Aeronauts machine in Berna decals, with a modified ordnance load but otherwise out of the box. The next picture also has after-market decals and a different weapon load. Next two are straight out of the box. Final Mirage is a Revell offering originally released in the 1970’s. I was really impressed by this kit at the time although I’m not sure if all those bombs were carried by operational aircraft.

That paintwork looks really good Claus. An Airfix bf109 was the first model that I built many years ago but I've never really become competent in replicating the fuselage mottling on German aircraft.

This has happened before, several kits have arrived in the year after they were officially supposed to. I suppose it's a case of better late than never.

Talking about manufacturers making things easier these days, I always think about some of the early kits from sixty years ago. An old favourite of mine from my younger days was the Frog F86 Sabre. It had a grand total of 14 plastic kit parts, plus a lead weight for the nose and a two part stand, I still have an original in my stash. I think there were several kits like that back in the day. Needless to say you didn't have to be an IPMS champion to put them together.

Making new moulds from scanning old parts has been mentioned before but I didn't know it was already being done. If it's possible to resurrect popular old kits like the ones mentioned above this would be a great idea.

Neat looking display. The whole effect looks like a real vehicle viewed from a distance, that's quite difficult to achieve in my opinion.

Thanks for that Ratch, does the Tamiya tape usually shape to the contours without wrinkling?

Cutting canopy masks is one thing I've never tried. Is it really as labour intensive as I expect or or there any handy short cuts?

Nice looking replicas. It's always good to see some models of fairly obscure subjects.

Fox was a neat looking vehicle Andrew, it would be really good to see it in 1/35 or even 1/72 scale. Fox and Vxen (which never entered service) were supposed to replace the Ferret but the money was never made available. This was at a time when the MOD was totally wasting billions on failed projects. Some things never change. Funnily enough the system would not let me write V*xen ( rymes with Dixon ), it's a banned word.

The inter war years saw the UK Armed Forces involved in some significant campaigns that now seem to be largely forgotten. It would be good to see some new kits from this period, either aircraft, vehicles or 1/600 ships.

Some good choices there by Darren and Ratch. The Vickers Armstrong Dragon is an interesting choice, I assume most if not all of these were lost in France, I wondered if any were left in service after 1940, does anyone know?

There are actually two options for Radios Darren; step 5 shows two Clansman's being fitted, and step 6 shows a single Larkspur set as an alternative. Larkspur was bulkier because it still used glass valve technology while Clansman used solid state circuitry. Clansman is correct for Option B of the kit, a vehicle from BATUS in the eighties. I’m glad that the different antenna mountings are also given as an option in step 73. The two are similar, but different enough to be noticeable in this scale. Instructions say these can be mixed and matched but they would only be fitted with the correct radio. This would be Larkspur up to the late seventies, then Clansman which was rolled out from about 1978 till 1980. Also, as a useful option are the two different types of side/taillights, one with side and taillights only and the other with side/tail and indicators (step 76). I understand that the indicators had to be fitted on many British Army vehicles during the mid-seventies to comply with new German road laws. This was obviously at a time when most of the front-line strength of the Army was in West Germany. I remember speaking to a REME electrician in 1976 who told me that he and his mates had recently been very busy completing the work. They were definitely glad when it was finished. Previous to this it was common practice for the commander of most AFV’s to give hand signals when driving on civilian roads.

I’ve spent the last few months doing some enjoyable builds of old kits, some with aftermarket decals. All are Airfix apart from a Frog Supermarine S6B which is very similar to its Airfix equivalent. I’m a little bit unsure about the colours of the Pe2 and the Mig 23, but I think the Pe2 in particular could be given a bit of leeway in shades used considering the aircrafts operating conditions. The Heinkel 111 is from the Battle of Britain set from 2010, a bit of artistic licence from Airfix since I understand that the H 20 version didn’t enter service till 1944. I used Humbrol 241 and 242 (shwartzgrun and dunkelgrun) but was a bit disappointed with the result, the two colours being so similar they almost blend into one. The Phantom has been my favourite kit for many years, these are the latest two of at least twenty that I’ve built. I tried some light aircraft grey on the VF 31 version from USS Saratoga but it looks a bit too dark. I had read on another plastic modelling forum that light aircraft grey and light gull grey are identical but obviously they aren’t. Just goes to show that it always pays to double check your references. All these kits are worth building and hopefully some will re-appear again as Vintage Classics.

I had thought about trying a couple of figures from the Tamiya Chieftain tank. It's a really cheap kit that's been around for years and only costs a quid or two more than a typical new figure set these days. It comes with three crew. The commander is depicted with a hand held microphone so he's suitable for vehicles up to the late seventies. Fit problems shouldn't be too bad for the commander because he's often seated on the open turret hatch that puts him almost entirely outside of the vehicle. The seat for the driver can be modified for more space if required because the seat in the real vehicle has a wide range of adjustment. Modifications would have to be made to each figure but I don't think that would be too difficult. Ferret and Chieftain would make a good diorama. Other figure sets from different periods would be suitable, the Ferret was in service for forty years. Late war figures in the light khaki tank suit would be ok because it was worn for many years and it's replacement in the seventies looked similar but was made from cheap green plastic. The old tank helmet was worn until the late seventies. After that time the headsets on the new Clansman radios were too bulky to allow the helmet to fit over.