A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing

The US said no to Pakistan over their F-16s, so Pakistan made their own with China, creating the JF-17 Thunder of 'Fierce Dragon'. This brings me nicely on to Trumpeter's 1/48 scale kit and it is really very nice. Well engraved and riveted, great cockpit, but terrible decals. While looking at photos of the real aircraft you can't help but notice how F-16-like it is, but with a Russian influence. This gave me an idea, to combine both looks into one radical colour scheme. I chose a great aggressors scheme I'd seen in Scale Aircraft Modelling. Also, I had some good decals from Linden Hill.

So here are the photos.  I think you might agree that the first photo, of the aircraft in service with the PAF is a little dull...Sometimes it's good to think outside the box.
                                (PA Defence Blog)

An Ace in 1/24

Here's the completed BF109 G-6, late version, by Trumpeter. What a lovely project this was. It lends itself perfectly to all the extra detail I added.   The builder is limited in 1/24 scale, so I made my own seat belts, wiring, cables and conduit.

I hope you have as much fun looking as I did building, and yes, I do highly recommend this kit.

Coming up....

Here's a visual list of forthcoming attractions.  Looks good, does it not? It's what gets me up in a morning.  Anything here that tickles your fancy?

On the bench right now is this - what do you think?

Do you know your cockpits?

Here are two cockpits I've recently completed.  Both are plastic, no resin or colour etched parts.  One is in 1/32, the other 1/48.   But to what aircraft do they belong?  They're both Russian,  and that's as easy as I'm making it.

The completed models will be appearing on here soon.  That is all.

Anti-grav Cocktail

Prawn?  Something about the shape and its original plastic colour makes this kit suggest a crustacean from space.

It's a kit I'd been keeping in a prominent spot in my workroom, anticipating the building of it for quite  some time.   Once I got started I wasn't disappointed. The cockpit was a blank canvas on which to add anything I wanted, so I did - conduit, wiring, extra instruments, seat belts and the radio placards from an Eduard BF 110 set, which were perfect here.

The build was great. Everything fitted pretty much as it should, but I would caution potential builders when they approach the jet can; this has to be fitted during the build, but then it's awkward to paint.  If you paint it first then it's awkward to fit, on its pair of moulded-on lugs.  These are designed to position the can in the tail, but they really got in my way, so I just cut them off.  Much easier then! This niggle aside, it was a real fun build, and a proper contrast to my usual diet of wartime fare.

If you find you like this, I'll repeat the links which a contributor passed on to me in an earlier blog entry. There are  terrific photos of some ingenious kits from this range, as well as some unique scratchbuilt models:

• http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/index.html
• http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/joomla/
• http://www.scale120.com/

Soviet Style

As you may or may not know, I have been a fan of Soviet aviation for many years  Take this bunch of recently completeds.

First, the Mi 2T Hoplite from Hobby Boss.  What a nice little build that was.

Second, the excellent I-16 RATA from Eduard.

And third, Trumpeter's 1/35 Mi 8 'Hip', a challenge but a highly enjoyable build.

I have many more Russian projects in the pipeline.  One of them will be the 1/48 Su-24 'Fencer' from Trumpeter - a build I have been looking forward to for, oh, let's say twenty five years!

The new Wessex

(Courtesy Italeri)

It's been a long time since Revell issued the 1/48 Wessex, and the market has been waiting for a replacement.  And here it is.  A new tooling that includes a small set of photo-etched parts and markings for four aircraft - and all for £25.  The parts are engraved and riveted, albeit a bit on the shallow side.

The cockpit is quite nice, and has an etched panel and seat belts, although I chose to fit a set of Eduard colour belts.  Don't we all?

As I am building, I can't help but think of how similar it is to Italeri's 1/72 scale Wessex.  Yes, it's the same aircraft, I know, but the build is identical.  To merely upscale the tooling probably helps to keep the price down.

Here are some photos.  I'm pleased with how it's going.  More later.