UNDER NEW ALL THE LATEST

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NEWS & REVIEWS

PAINT IT BLACK
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FIRST LOOKS
• Airfix 1/48 DH.82a Tiger Moth
• IBG 1/32 PZL P-11C
• Trumpeter 1/144 Avro
Vulcan B.2
• Zvezda 1/144 A350-1000
• ICM 1/72 Polikarpov
U-2/P0-2VS

F-4G Wild Weasel

SAM ALSO INSIDE!

KILLER
DUTCH MASTER – KINETIC’S
F-104G STARFIGHTER
ITALIAN STALLION – SWORD’S
1/72 REGGIANE RE. 2005
SAGITTARIO
MAY 2020
Vol 26 Issue 5 £4.95
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 WELCOME
Welcome to...
Scale Aviation Modeller International
May 2020 Volume 26 Issue 5

think it is an understatement to say that now not see the light of day until 2021 at the

I we are living in uncertain times. With much

of Western Europe and North America
remaining in lockdown from the COVID-19
pandemic, shops and leisure activities are closed
for the foreseeable future, and people are stuck
earliest. Also, even before the COVID-19 outbreak
took hold, some smaller model shops were
already struggling to survive, and although the
current resurgence in the hobby may have some
long-term benefits, the question remains, can
in their homes for days, weeks and possibly they endure in the short term and re-open their
months to come. However, this has seen a doors when safe to do so? We at MA Publications
massive increase in interest for hobbies that can fully support our Governments advice to stay at
be done indoors. My home and save lives, and I
DAVID FRANCIS, EDITOR model club alone has am sure all of us can relate
david@modelaircraftmag.com seen an upsurge in the to this, however, I would like
number of visitors to its to pay tribute to those who
website, and Facebook, continue to work during these
Instagram and a host incredibly challenging times
of other internet and especially those medical
forums are now full staff and emergency service
of people returning to workers who are putting their
the modelling fold or lives on the line every day
are looking to rekindle to care for us all. I myself
their interest. To that am a First Responder for
end online retailers are the Ambulance Service and
seeing an increase in have seen first-hand how
demand for modelling nasty this little bug is! Also,
tools and simple kits there are the supermarket
as people look to fill their time. That said, with workers, farmers, delivery drivers and many
kit manufacturers around the world having their more who are working hard, if not harder to keep
own COVID-19 related problems, there will no our country going. Thank you all. So, I hope you
doubt still be tough times ahead for the hobby enjoy what we have to offer in this issue of SAMI
trade. It goes without saying that there is going and please, follow the advice - stay home, stay
to be a knock-on effect from the COVID 19 virus safe - and enjoy your modelling! Until next time…..
that will sadly last for a good while to come,
and already several companies have put their
production schedules on hold for this year, and David Francis
have announced that their planned new kits will

SUBSCRIBE – SEE PAGE 38

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 3
 CONTENTS

50

70

64

74

FEATURES
40 SAM Killer 54 Tonka-Tastic! 70 Paint it Black
Jezz Coleman builds the 1/32 Revell F-4G Keith Slatter converts the 1/32 Revell Regis Marteau builds the 1/72 Airfix BAe
‘Wild Weasel’ Tornado GR.1 to a No.12(B) Squadron GR.4A Hawk T2 in the markings of No.IV(R)
Squadron

46 All Right Jack! 58 Dutch Master

Derek Gibbs builds the 1/48 Tamiya
Mitsubishi J2M Raiden
50 Italian Stallion
Marco Rondinelli builds the 1/48 Sword
Reggiane Re. 2005 Sagittario
Barry Koervers builds the 1/48 Kinetic 74 Angry Phoenix
F-104G
‘Gotcha-Baby’
Kitti Tatsumaki builds the quirky Sabre
64 Double-Bubble! Models AIM-54 missile kit
Stephen J Di Nucci builds an Air National
Guard Boeing C-97G using the Minicraft 1/144
KC-97G with photography by Phil Jones

4 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 CONTENTS
REGULARS

LATEST NEWS
NEWS CENTRE
40 ...ALL THE LATEST NEWS & REVIEWS ...ALL THE

FIRST LOOKS
FIRST LOOKS – PAGE 10
LATEST NEWS – PAGE 8
1/144 Trumpeter Avro Vulcan B.2
All the latest news 1/144 Zvezda A350-1000
from around the world 1/72 ICM Polikarpov U-2/P0-2VS
1/48 Airfix DH.82a Tiger Moth
1/32 IBG PZL P-11C

KIT REVIEWS
5LOOKS
FIRST

ACCESSORIES
NEW KITS PREVIEWED!

KIT REVIEWS – PAGE 16

1/144 Revell Lufthansa Embraer 190

1/72 Italeri F-4M Phantom FG.1
1/48 AK Interactive MiG-21PFM
1/48 Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF

DECALS
1/48 Italeri F/A-18E Super Hornet
1/32 Revell EC135 Eurocopter EC135

BOOK REVIEWS
KITS
REVIEWED!

ACCESSORIES – PAGE 28
DECALS – PAGE 32 BOOK REVIEWS – PAGE 36
All the latest
accessories All the
from 7 latest
different decals from
companies 7 different
companies

6 BOOKS
REVIEWED

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 7

8 Latest News
All the latest news from
58
around the world

10 First Looks
A preview of
upcoming and new
releases

16 Kit Reviews
The SAMI review team
build and assess a
variety of models

28 Accessories
An assortment of
new accessories from
46
various companies

32 Decals
The latest decal releases
from around the world

36 Book Reviews
SAMI’s monthly look at
new books

78 IPMS (UK)
Presented by Chris
Ayre on behalf of The
International Plastic
Modellers’ Society (UK)

82 Back Page
Diary of upcoming
shows and find out
what’s coming next
54
month?

SUBSCRIBE NOW!
SEE PAGE 38

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 5

 PRE
-OR
BUILDING THE

DER
Spitfire

NOW
!
Model Aircraft ‘Extra Special’ #6 MODEL
AIRCRAFT

The Supermarine Spitfire

EXTRA

No.6
he iconic Supermarine Spitfire, the most strategically important

T British single-seat fighter of World War II. The Spitfire, renowned

for winning victory laurels in the Battle of Britain along with the
Hawker Hurricane, served in every theatre of the War and was produced
in more variants than any other British aircraft. The Spitfire was designed
by Reginald Mitchell of Supermarine Ltd., in response to a 1934 Air Ministry
specification calling for a high-performance fighter with an armament of
eight wing-mounted 0.303-inch machine guns. The airplane was a direct
descendant of a series of floatplanes designed by Mitchell to compete for
the coveted Schneider Trophy in the 1920s. One of these racers, the S.6,
set a world speed record of 357 miles per hour in 1929. Designed around
a 1,000-horsepower, 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce PV-12 engine
(later dubbed the Merlin), the Spitfire first flew in March 1935. It had superb
performance and flight characteristics, and deliveries to operational
Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons commenced in the summer of 1938. A
more radical design than the Hurricane, the Spitfire had a stressed-skin
aluminum structure and a graceful elliptical wing with a thin airfoil that,
in combination with the Merlin’s efficient two-stage supercharger, gave it
exceptional performance at high altitudes. The version of the Spitfire that
fought in the Battle of Britain was powered by a Merlin engine. Faster than
its formidable German opponent the Bf 109 at altitudes above 15,000 feet
and just as manoeuvrable, Spitfires were sent by preference to engage
German fighters while the slower Hurricanes went for the bombers. More
Hurricanes than Spitfires served in the Battle of Britain, and they were
credited with more ‘kills,’ but it can be argued that the Spitfire’s superior
high-altitude performance provided the margin of victory. Meanwhile,
Supermarine was developing more-capable versions of the Spitfire driven BUILDING THE
by progressively more-powerful Merlin’s. The eight 0.303-inch machine

Spitfire
guns gave way to four 0.8-inch automatic cannons, and by war’s end the
Spitfire had been produced in more than 20 fighter versions alone,
powered by Merlin’s of up to 1,760 horsepower. Though outperformed
by the German Fw 190 on that aircraft’s introduction in 1941, the MAE6
Spitfire restored parity the following year and eventually regained
the advantage. It remained a first-line air-to-air fighter throughout
Spitfire Compiled by Andy Evans

the war. Spitfires were used in the defence of Malta, in North

Africa and Italy, and, fitted with tail hooks and strengthened tail
sections, as Seafires from Royal Navy aircraft carriers from June
£17.99
+P&P
1942. Spitfires helped to provide air superiority over the Sicily, Italy,
and Normandy beachheads and served in the Far East from the spring
of 1943. Fighter-bomber versions could carry a 250 or 500lb bomb
beneath the fuselage and a 250-pound bomb under each win One of the
Spitfire’s most important contributions to Allied victory was as a photo-
reconnaissance aircraft from early 1941. Superior high-altitude performance
MA PUBLICATIONS LTD
rendered it all but immune from interception, and the
fuel tanks that replaced wing-mounted machine guns and
ammunition bays gave it sufficient range to probe western
Germany from British bases. n late 1943 Spitfires powered by Rolls-
Royce Griffon engines developing as much as 2,050 horsepower began
entering service. Capable of top speeds of 440 miles per hour and ceilings
of 40,000 feet, these were used to shoot down V-1 ‘buzz bombs.’ During
World War II, Spitfires were exported in small numbers to Portugal, Turkey,
and the Soviet Union, and they were flown by the U.S. Army Air Forces in
Europe. When production ceased in 1947, 20,334 Spitfires of all versions had
been produced, 2,053 of them Griffon-powered versions. Fighter versions
of the Spitfire were withdrawn from RAF service during the early 1950s,
while photo-reconnaissance Spitfires continued in service until 1954. In
Model Aircraft ‘Extra Special’
#6, the biggest book of this
series some 22`Spitfire build
projects will be included,
in a ‘how-to’ format, and
continue this fantastic series
modelling guides from MA
Publications, the new name
in scale modelling.

PO Box 1592 | Bedford | MK40 9FD | UK

T: +44 (0) 1234 331431 E: info@modelaircraftmag.com
www.modelaircraftmag.com
 LATEST NEWS
NEWS CENTRE
...ALL THE LATEST NEWS & REVIEWS ...ALL THE

FIRST LOOKS
FIRST LOOKS – PAGE 10
LATEST NEWS – PAGE 8
1/144 Trumpeter Avro Vulcan B.2
All the latest news 1/144 Zvezda A350-1000
from around the world 1/72 ICM Polikarpov U-2/P0-2VS
1/48 Airfix DH.82a Tiger Moth
1/32 IBG PZL P-11C

KIT REVIEWS
5 FIRST
LOOKS

ACCESSORIES
NEW KITS PREVIEWED!

KIT REVIEWS – PAGE 16

1/144 Revell Lufthansa Embraer 190

1/72 Italeri F-4M Phantom FG.1
1/48 AK Interactive MiG-21PFM
1/48 Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF

DECALS
1/48 Italeri F/A-18E Super Hornet
1/32 Revell EC135 Eurocopter EC135

6
BOOK REVIEWS
KITS
REVIEWED!

ACCESSORIES – PAGE 28
DECALS – PAGE 32 BOOK REVIEWS – PAGE 36
All the latest
accessories All the
from 7 latest
different decals from
companies 7 different
companies

6 BOOKS
REVIEWED

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 7

 LATEST NEWS
..NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD... NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD... NEWS FROM AR

NEWS
WINGNUT WINGS

J
ust as we went to
press, we heard
rumours that
Wingnut Wings may
have produced their
MAY 2020
last kit! For many
this will be really bad

DORA WINGS news as there is no

doubt they raised the WW1 historian and
Republic of China and a bar of what was possible producer of the Windsock

D
ora Wings
has been
very busy
over the winter
months. As well
as the imminent
release of their
first 1/32 scale the
Dewoitine D.500
fighter which
comes with some
very colourful markings, we also
have an equally colourful new
kit in the works in the shape of a
1\48 scale Republic P-43 Lancer,
now famous as the predecessor
of the Republic P-47. The P-43
was already considered obsolete
by the time it entered service
so was mainly used for training
by the United States though the
type was used in combat by the
LACO MODELS
t is always good to bring
photo reconnaissance
version was used by
Number 1PRU, Royal
Australian Air Force
between 1942 and
1943 being replaced
by the de Havilland
Mosquito. Finally,
another French
Aircraft the Morane-
Saulnier MS.230 trainer. This
was the French equivalent of
the Tiger Moth or Stearman
trainer and with over 1000
examples built saw widespread
service around the world. The
first boxing will cover the types
use in by the Czech Air Force
as the C23 and the box art is
very attractive and makes me
want to build this version.
with Injection moulded Datafile range and a
plastic as well as totally longtime collaborator with
reinvigorating the market Wingnut Wings posted the
for large scale World War accompanying picture on
One aircraft. The rumour his web page. Hopefully,
seemed to be confirmed things will be clearer in
when Ray Rimmell noted time for next month’s issue.
SPECIAL HOBBY
y the time you read this
B the brand new 1/72 scale
He 162A-2 Salamander,
will be readily available and
from what we have seen it looks
a treat! Other new releases we
can look forward to includes the
1/72 scale AW Meteor NF Mk11 in
NATO users’ schemes, the box-
art features a Belgium Air Force
example. Fans of French/Israeli
subjects will love the two kit
Dassault SMB-2 Super Mystère
that also includes a book on the
type. Kits with reference books
included are becoming quite
popular in the Czech Republic
and I must say that I really
do like the concept! In future
releases we can expect to see
three further 1/72 kits, these

I a new name to your

attention through these
pages. Ladislav Hančar is
somebody some of you will
know personally and if you
don’t, you will have seen his
models at competitions in
the UK and in Europe, where
he regularly wins a medal
or two! Over the last few
months, he has been designing,
printing and casting a series
of very detailed engines for
airlines in various scales.
In addition to the engines
Ladislav has been working
on an all new 1/48 scale resin
kit of the Zlin Z-37 A Čmelák,
(Bumblebee) which he has
designed himself from scratch
in CAD and printed the masters
using 3d print technology.
Hopefully the engines and
the kit will be available in
August, but due to the current
situation this is subject to
change, but we will keep you
posted. This is definitely a kit
I would like in my collection!
are the Fouga Magister with
markings for French, Belgium
and Irish examples. While fans
of the Italian Air Force will be
pleased to see the return of the
Piaggio P.10B heavy bomber,
this is an older kit which has
been upgraded with some
extra resin goodies and will
be produced in very small
numbers. Finally the Saab
Viggen is being re-released with
a special scheme ‘Swedish Eyes’
which features an impressive
wolfs head on the tail.
As ever an interesting
selection of new releases and as
always Special Hobby/CMK are
working on releasing some
resin accessories for these
and other manufactures kits.

8 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


ROUND THE WORLD... NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD... NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
EDUARD
duard has quite an
E extensive release
program scheduled for
the coming months, so, what
can we look forward to?
By the time you read this the
triple boxing of aircraft flown by
First World War ace Ernst Udet,
will have been released in 1/48
scale. This boxing titled Du Doch
Nicht will include the Eduard
Albatross D.V, Fokker Dr.1 and
Fokker D.VII. April is looking like
a really good month as Eduard
have also announced a 1/72 scale
MiG-21PF. The PF was the third
production variant, featuring an
enlarged nose intake and larger
main-wheels amongst other
upgrades, but it retained the
forward opening canopy of the
earlier versions. Moving onto
May, we will see the release of
a 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf
108 Taifun, the moulds originate
from Foke, a company better
known for industrial robots.
The first boxing will cover the
Taifun’s use by the Luftwaffe.
In May will also see the
addition the Albatross built
Fokker D.VII in 1/72 scale, this kit
includes some very attractive
markings, including the mount
of Carl Degelow, with his white
Hart motif on the black fuselage.
Other May releases include
the 1/144 scale MiG-21 with some
very colourful markings options.
The ex-Gavia 1/48 scale Lysander
will also be reissued, with an
interesting selection of new
markings, including Finnish and
the spy drop scheme currently
KOVOZÁVODY PROSTĔJOV (KP) MODELS
ew from KP are four
N boxings of the Cessna
T-50 ‘Bobcat/Crane’
in 1/72 scale which was
originally released by Pavla
worn by the airworthy Lysander
operated by the Shuttleworth
Collection in the UK.
In June we will see the release
of an Eduard B-26 Marauder
using the Hasegawa kit as a base
with the addition of 6 markings
options as well as lots of Eduard
goodies! On to July and we will
see the AMK 1/72 Delfin released
with 5 markings options. Now
we are in the middle of summer
and we will get another 1/48
scale Mustang this time with
markings dedicated to the Pacific
Theatre including the very
long-range drop tanks used to
cover the large distances in this
theatre of operations. Also in
August we are hoping to see the
new tool 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.I
released, hopefully in time for
the US Nationals in San Marcos,
Texas (fingers crossed this event
happens, we shall see!). Options
included in the first boxing will
include the early flat canopy and
two bladed wooden propellers.
Moving into the Autumn,
September will see the long-
awaited release of the 1/72
scale Fokker D.VII Royal Class
Edition, this boxing will enable
you to build a D.VII built by
OAW and Albatross, as well as
the Fokker built version. I am
looking forward to seeing what
the markings and bonus extras
will be included this time.
back in 1999. We will also
have a brand new tooled kit
of the Lavouchkin La-5, four
versions will be produced
and KP have advised me
By the time we get to
October you would be forgiven
for thinking that Eduard might
be slowing down a bit, but no!
We can look forward to the
release of a 1/48 scale MiG-
19. The release is based on
the Trumpeter plastic and will
include 8 markings options for
Czechoslovak operated aircraft
as well as another one of their
highly detailed pictorial books
that we have seen already in the
Limited-Edition MiG-21, Mil-24
and Mig-23 in Czechoslovak
service. Also due in October
is a 1/72 scale kit of the Zlin
L-37 Čmelák (Bumblebee) this
Agricultural spraying aircraft
is also widely used as a glider
tug in the Czech Republic.
The final release for this
year in November will be
the Mustang F-6D photo-
reconnaissance Mustang. Eduard
are also hoping that December
might see the release of the
Messerschmitt Bf-109K-4.
As ever this list of releases
from Eduard might be subject
to change, even more so with
the current world situation.
Other proposed kits for
which we don’t have release
dates includes at least ten
boxings of the Spitfire Mk.Vc
in 1/48 scale. We will also
have a Hawker Tempest Mk.II
which is being produced in
that this kit has nothing in
common with their 2015
tooling. The final new release
from KP this month is the
1/72 scale Spitfire FR.IX.
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
LATEST NEWS
FIRST LOOKS
cooperation with Special Hobby
who will have their version on
sale first. Fans of Czech civil
aviation will be pleased to see
the announcement of the Zlin
Trener family in 1/48 scale, to
KIT REVIEWS
include the 126, 226, 326, and
526, there are many variations
in these specifications which
Eduard will address. Although
this is a very Czechoslovak
design the type has seen service
in many western countries too,
so there will be plenty of colour
scheme options available. The
ACCESSORIES
long awaited Avia S.199 (the
Jumo engine version of the
Messerschmitt Bf109G-10) will
hopefully appear in 2021. Eduard
will be releasing a number of
versions including the early oil
cooler and Erla type canopy
that featured on the first 25
built. The second version to be
DECALS
released features the smoother
cowling and modified canopy.
Marking options will, no doubt,
include both Czechoslovak
and Israeli examples.
BOOK REVIEWS
AN APOLOGY
n last months issue we
I took a look at a sound
and motor set for the
1/48 scale Messerschmitt
Bf-109. Inadvertently we
misnamed the company so I
apologise for this error and
can confirm the correct name
is Magic Scale Modelling
and the set can be ordered
from their website at www.
magicscalemodeling.
com/shop.
9
 FIRST LOOKS

DH.82A TIGER MOTH

First look at Airfix 1/48 DH.82a Tiger Moth

f any aircraft can be described as iconic,

I it is the Tiger Moth. I am sure for most of

us the Tiger Moth is the first biplane you
would have seen in the air. Certainly in my
part of the UK the type is quite prolific as I
have several airfields within a fairly short
distance from my house with flying examples.
Production of the Tiger Moth started
at Stag Lane in North London in 1931 and
quickly became a commercial success in just
eight years over 1400 Tiger Moths had been
produced and by the time production finished
in 1944 over 8800 aircraft had been produced.
Today over 250 are still airworthy and many
survive in Museums around the world.
Airfix are very proud of this kit and rightly
so. Presented on three runners the detail
is very well done using a mix of raised and
recessed detail, the fabric over rib effect
is subtle and will look very good under a
coat of paint. Internal detail is adequate The instructions use Airfix latest CAD Warden, Bedfordshire, England 2018.
for the scale and most will be happy to style design which I really like as you can • de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, K-4259/G-
build this kit out of the box. The only thing clearly see where everything fits but I was ANMO, Headcorn Aerodrome, Kent, 2018
I would change is the cockpit seats, which most impressed with the two pages of
as supplied are a bit thick and etched brass rigging diagrams, which clearly show how CONCLUSION
replacements would look a lot more to this is done though Airfix do not make any Another very nice new tool kit of a subject
scale. You do have a representation of suggestion as to what to use for the rigging overlooked for far to long, especaily
the DH Gypsy Major and you can show the wires. I would probably stick to my normal considering its use with 49 Air Forces and
cowlings open for maintenance, though Lycra thread though fishing line or thin wire wide spread civilian use all around the world.
the cowling would look more to scale if are other possibilities. SBS models have also If none of the kit decals are to you taste,
you replaced it with some shaped plastic announced that they are producing a set of Dutch Decals, H-Model, Kora, LF Models and
card using the kit parts as a template. pre-sized etched brass rigging wires, which Xtracolour all have decal sheets offering
There are lots of optional parts in this will be available by the time you read this. alternative markings to the kit options.
box pointing to further variants in the future; The two-colour schemes supplied are both Our thanks to the designers at Airfix
these include three styles of propeller and very colourful modern airworthy examples for doing such a good job on this classic
both early and late style tailplanes. The painted in schemes from the past. As usual aircraft, the Tiger Moth will be widely
only issue I can find is that on our example only Humbrol paint references are supplied available from Airfix stockist around the
Parts 4 and 5, the tail struts are bent, this is but there are many conversion charts online world by the time you read this, with no
not a surprise as they have been moulded if you cannot source this range in your area. doubt there will be many more boxings
so they are quite exposed to damage in • de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, K-2585/G- to come over the next few years.
transit. However, it was a work of seconds ANKT, finished in the colours of the
with a cup of hot water to soften the plastic RAF Central Flying School Aerobatic
and then bend them back into shape. team, The Shuttleworth collection, Old

10 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


PZL P-11C
First Look Update: IBG 1/32 PZL P-11C
ast month we had a First Look
L of the production runners from
IBG’s PZL P.11C fighter, though
this is their first kit in this scale the
detail was up there with the best and
will be certainly a contender for 1/32
scale kit of the year. To give you an
idea of how detailed this kit is we can
show you the painting guide for the
cockpit and though you may think
most of this will be hidden, the large
cockpit opening and the optional
open fuselage panels means most
of this detail will be clearly visible.
At the time of writing of the original
First Look; we did not have details
of the marking options that were going
to be supplied with the model but as is
always the case the day after we went to
print the information became available!
The kit comes with three options all
painted in Polish khaki over light blue
camouflage and all options carry the unit
insignias on the fuselage side. As well as the
offset national insignia on the wing upper
surfaces, which was supposed to put enemy
gunners and fighters off their aim by fooling
the eye to give the wrong deflection angle.
• PZL P.11c, 113th Fighter Squadrons,
Pilot Hieronim Dudwai, Poniatow
airfield, Warsaw, September 1939.
• PZL P.11c, 122nd Fighter Squadron,
Pilot W/O Wladyslaw Chciuk,
Aleksandrowice Airfield.
September 1939.
• PZL P.11c, 111th Fighter Squadron,
Pilot W/O Janusk Macinski,
Sulejowek Airfield, Warsaw,
September 1939.
In addition, a future
version will contain
the basic plastic parts
with the addition of a
set of turned brass
barrels from Master
Models as well as a
very nice resin pilot.
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
LATEST NEWS
FIRST LOOKS
KIT REVIEWS
ACCESSORIES
This boxing will come with an exclusive
marking for one of the most colourful
PZLs used by the Polish Air Force.
• PZL P.11cs, 141st Fighter Squadron, S/Ldr
Leopold Pamula, Warsaw, August 1936.
CONCLUSION
This new kit is an amazing piece of
DECALS
work and is obviously a labour of love
for IBG and I love the marking options
included with the standard kit. The
limited-edition kit will cost about £20
more than the standard version but that
is less than the cost of the set of turned
metal barrels and resin figure with the
addition of an exclusive decal option.
In the UK you can order both
BOOK REVIEWS
versions of this kit from Hannants.
11
 FIRST LOOKS
AVRO VULCAN B.2
First look at Trumpeter 1/144 Avro Vulcan B.2
hen Trumpeter first revealed they
W were working on an Avro Vulcan
there was a lot of discussion by
modellers about the scale. As looking at
the early photographs of the test shot, no
one knew for sure what scale it was going
to be? And the detail visible in the original
photographs would not have looked out of
place in one of the larger scales. It was a
few months later that it was revealed that
the new Vulcan was in fact 1/144 scale.
On opening the box I was immediately
impressed with the packing as extra padding
has been supplied around some of the more
delicate parts. The fuselage has bee split into
four parts, upper and lower wing and nose
and a separate tail fin and rear section. This
means that construction of all the main parts
should be quick and painless. The cockpit is
a bit basic but as it is painted black not much
of it will be visible on the finished model.
12 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
There are several optional parts on
the lower fuselage to produce either an
aircraft equipped with a Blue Steel nuclear
tipped missile or a conventional bomber.
Sadly this is not the open boy bay seen
on the box art but shows the airacraft
with the bomb bay doors closed.
You are also supplied with two ECM
plates that are fitted over the engine
tunnels I have never seen one fitted to
both sides, but only on the right-hand
side but apparently, this twin fit did
happen on some Vulcans in the 1960s.
Unfortunately, Trumpeter have had to
make a few compromises the first is that
the engine exhausts are a bit of a hybrid
being too long for an Olympus 201 engined
example or too short for the 301 version.
Both aircraft in the kit’s options were
equipped with the shorter Olympus 201 and
XL361 was modified to carry the Blue Steel.
However I am not sure it ever did in the
colours supplied by Trumpeter which has
the later red blue roundels. At the time the
Blue Steel was carried it would not have had
the RWR antennas fitted to the upper part
of the tail. This is a
fairly easy backdate
as the antennas
are fairly easy to
remove with a sharp
blade and a little
sanding to shape.
As supplied the
 LATEST NEWS
kit markings are correct for XL361 flying as
a bomb equipped aircraft and would have
carried the RWR antenna on the fin as she
does today in preservation in Canada.
• Avro Vulcan B.2, XL361, 9 Squadron,

FIRST LOOKS
Royal Air Force, 1981.
• Avro Vulcan B.2, XH558, G-VLCN,
Doncaster Airport, 2016.

CONCLUSION
As I am about to start building a 1/144
scale airliner and this model will be a
good accompaniment to it, though the
Vulcan which is not a small aircraft, will

KIT REVIEWS
be dwarfed by the Airbus A350-1000
I suspect it will be the far easier build.
The main challenge on this kit will be
painting the 18 wheels neatly, followed
by masking the canopy to get a nice sharp
demarcation on the multi pane windshield.
Our thanks to the European importer
Bachmann Europe for supplying the
review sample, which will feature

ACCESSORIES
in a full build in a future issue.

A350-1000
First look at Zvezda 1/144
A350-1000

DECALS
he Airbus A350 was developed to wheels. Although you will still

T counter the effect of the Boeing

787 Dreamliner on Airbus sales.
The A-350’s first flight was in 2013 and
it entered service with 2015. Currently,
there are two versions of the A350, the
315 seat -900 and the extended -1000, a
have to paint 18 wheels and
tyres perfectly, something
I always struggle with.
Unlike airliner kits of the past, the silver surround around the windows as well
cockpit is quite well detailed being made as full wing walkways and serials as well
up from five parts, which is more than as the complicate Airbus markings which

type that has just entered service with
British Airways replacing the vulnerable
Boeing 747-400 which in a few years’
time will have disappeared for good.
The new Zvezda A-350 comes in the
largest size of Zvezda box which I was
a bit surprised about until I opened the
box. The A-350 fuselage halves are huge
almost filling the box from end to end.
It was only when I checked the statistics
that I realised the 1000 version of the
A350 is longer than the Boeing 747.
Supplied on six runners this is not a
complicated kit and there is some clever
engineering like the simple way the six
wheeled main undercarriage is assembled
that will ensure perfect alignment of the
adequate though I do wish they had
included some crew figures to finish it off.
The engines are made up of 9
parts each, and have a very good
representation of the two rows of fan
blades while the decal supplies the small
spinner spiral something that many
kits and decal manufacturers miss.
I said there were only 6 runners, but in
fact there is a seventh that supplies a small
stand to display your model in flight and
optional parts are supplied to display the
undercarriage retracted. Though unlike the
same manufacturers superb IL-62 which is
my benchmark 1/144 scale airliner. You are
not supplied with posable slats and flaps
which is a shame though their inclusion would
have increased the cost of the model and
would also be an engineering challenge.
Unsurprisingly the decals supply markings
for the second Airbus A-350-1000 F-WXLV
in the current Airbus house colours and are
illustrated on a small full colour four view
profile. The two decal sheets are produced
to the highest standard and includes the
BOOK REVIEWS
includes a large A350-1000 marking along
the underside of the fuselage. Unfortunately,
this will not be visible unless you display the
model on a mirror or on the supplied stand.
CONCLUSION
This kit looks like it will be easy to
assemble and the only challenge that I can
see will be cleaning up that long upper
fuselage seam line. Unfortunately, it is
unlikely we will see this kit released by
Zvezda with any Airline markings due
to the high costs you have to pay to the
airline for using their corporate colours.
But fortunately, 26 Decals have produced
decals for the two British operators that
have just taken delivery of the type British
Airways and Virgin Atlantic both of which
would make two attractive alternative
schemes to apply to the Zvezda kit if you
do not like the Airbus company scheme.
Our thanks to the Hobby Company
Zvezda’s UK importer for supplying
the review sample and a full build
will feature in a future issue.

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 13

 FIRST LOOKS

POLIKARPOV U-2/P0-2VS
First look at ICM 1/72 Polikarpov U-2/P0-2VS

he Polikarpov U-2/Po-2 is one of

T the most produced aircraft in the

world with a wide range of models
from numerous manufacturers across
the Soviet Union with even further small
modifications added by units in the field.
No one really knows the total produced
as production was so dispersed and even
small manufacturers and Aero clubs were
still producing their own versions after
production officially stopped in 1952.
This is not the first U-2/Po-2 that ICM has
produced, as their original was produced in
2012 to positive reviews. Rather confusingly
the box art of both kits features the same
aircraft, so make sure you look for kit number
722243 to get this all new tool moulding.
As a new tool this kit has nothing in
common with the previous boxing other
than two of the marking options featuring
in both kits. The main difference between kit’s plastic parts and the only thing that
this tooling and the original kit is the really needs adding is some seat belts
finesse used in the plastic moulding. This or crew members to fill the cockpit.
includes a subtle representation of the As this boxing provides marking
fabric stretched over the wing ribs and for the night bomber version you are
razor-sharp trailing edges of the wings. supplied with 4 250KG bombs and their
Though the cockpit openings are associated racks as well as the ShKas
quite small the cockpit is made up from 7.62 machine gun mounted on a small
19 pieces, which is almost 30% of the tripod mount behind the rear cockpit.
An optional ski fitted undercarriage is
supplied for one of the marking options
which unsurprisingly has an overall
whitewash finish added on top of the
original green and black upper surface
camouflage. If you like distressed finishes
on your model this is the one to go for.
• Polikarpov U-2VS, White 6, 213 NBAD
(Night bomber air division) Summer 1943.
• Polikarpov U-2VS, Unknown Unit,
Ski Equipped, Winter 1942.
• Polikarpov U-2VS, White 19, 46th
Tamansky GvNBAP, Spring 1945.
• Polikarpov U-2VS, White 23, 2nd Polish
NBAP, Krakow/Lublin area, Summer 1944.

CONCLUSION
Considering the number of variations based
on this aircraft I was surprised that ICM
only produced two boxings of the original
kit. This is a series that could run and run,
and I am really hoping they consider the
Po-2S Air Ambulance with its pods for two
stretchers over the lower wings or the
post war agriculture version. At under £10
these kits offer very good value for many
and with its simple engineering and four
attractive marking options I am sure this
will be one of the best-selling kits of 2020.
Our thanks to ICM for supplying
the review sample, and a full build
will feature in a future issue.

14 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 KIT REVIEWS

EUROCOPTER EC135
Paul Bradley reviews the 1/32 Revell EC135 Eurocopter EC135 Heeresflieger/German Army Aviation
EUROCOPTER EC135
HEERESFLIEGER/GERMAN ARMY interesting accuracy issue – there are no
MANUFACTURER: Revel intakes, at least according to the plastic
SCALE: 1/32 in the box! The military EC135 has built-in
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic filters covering the intakes, but these are
not represented at all on the plastic, nor as
KIT NUMBER: 04982
decals! It is to be hoped that an enterprising
aftermarket company will release a
suitable etch or resin set to replace this.

T
he EC135 is one of the most popular
light helicopters in the World and there
are a number of kits in all scales. This
1/32 kit is a re-issue of Revell’s newer moulds
from 2013 that replaced an inaccurate 1995
mould which was released in many different
boxings until 2012. Surprisingly, this is only
the second release from these new moulds.
THE KIT
The kit comes in Revell’s standard eminently
crushable box! Luckily, the fifteen light grey
and three clear sprues were enclosed in
numerous bags to prevent loose parts being
lost, and thankfully none was damaged.
Also, inside are a small but perfectly
formed decal sheet and Revell’s standard
pictorial and mostly comprehensible all-
colour instructions. The number of sprues
highlights not only the complexity of the kit,
but also the over-engineering in places, as
well as Revell’s profligacy – one large sprue
of around fifty police/rescue helicopter
parts yields only three small parts used for
this boxing! Revell did not group the parts
logically, and parts required for certain steps
of the construction are often scattered
across multiple sprues. Painting
instructions are included for all
parts during construction. There
are twenty-one colours needed
to complete the model, including
six different greys. Luckily, only
one is a patented Revell mix.
Next up are the interior door frames and
the addition of the cabin module and engine
bay module to the fuselage halves. Fit here
is indifferent and much care is needed to
ensure you don’t have awkward seams
and ill-fitting parts later in the build. That
fit might come back to haunt you in the
next step, fitting the main cockpit glass.
Clearly, I had not quite got the interior
parts to fit properly, as this was a very
poor fit requiring some brute force, filler
and superglue – unfortunately, I overdid
it and the glass cracked on one side.
To prevent this model being a tailsitter,
nose weight is required, though Revell omit
to tell you that. There’s no need to add it
at this point though, as there’s a separate
under-fuselage panel that you can leave
off until late in construction, where you
can add weight to your heart’s content
once the tailboom and skids are in place.
Fitting the engine ‘intakes’ threw up an
TAIL AND DECALS
Assembly of the separate tailboom and
fenestron tail rotor is straightforward,
aside from its attachment to the fuselage
pod, which is very loose. The skids are
quite a complex piece of construction and
it is important to be sure all the parts are
properly square to ensure a proper sit for
the finished model. The rear fuselage cargo
bay doors can be posed open, though there’s
nothing inside to show off. Similarly, there
is no need to cut out the window of the
port door, as it isn’t present on the military
model. The pilot’s door and port cabin door
are both intended to be posed open, and
their fit in the closed positions is not very
good and some trimming was needed to
get them shut properly. The rotors are
quite simple but be sure you have them the
correct way up; the main rotor should turn
anti-clockwise. Unlike many modern rotors,
painting them is simple, but the supplied
yellow blade tip decals don’t fit properly

THE BUILD
As one might expect with a helicopter,
construction starts with the cockpit/cabin
module. The level of detail here, though
seemingly comprehensive, feels rather
bland – though this might be a function of
the real thing. The moulded detail is all a bit
soft, and there is a surprising amount of light
flash for what is only the second release
from these moulds. The instrument panel
has raised detail, and also a decal, though
this is not a good match to the moulded
detail. Seats include moulded-in belts, which
are rather skinny and ill-defined, and you
may wish to replace them with etched belts.
It all cries out for a nice resin replacement.
Construction continues with the engine
bays, though much of this is wasted as very
little will be seen on the completed model.

16 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


– best to paint them instead. Speaking of
the decals, these are quite comprehensive
and well-printed, aside from the poor
blade tip decals, I could find little wrong
and for the most part they behaved well
and settled down over the exterior detail
without silvering. Be aware that the window
decals are quite fragile and tend to curl
up on themselves. There are two options,
both for machines of the German School of
Army Aviation (Heeresfliegerwaffenschule)
LATEST NEWS
Start as
FIRST LOOKS
you mean
to finish
KIT REVIEWS
Humbrol Enamels.. the modeller’s
standard for decades.
ACCESSORIES
based at Bückeburg. The only difference
between the options is the serial number.
CONCLUSION
Overall, this kit is a mixed bag. The model
scales out well and appears to have good
DECALS
lines and shapes - it certainly captures
well the perky sit of the real thing.
However, the parts have surprisingly soft
detail in places, light flash mars a lot of
the parts, and fit can be indifferent.
Discover everything you need for all of
your hobby projects with the Humbrol
Spray range.
BOOK REVIEWS
Adding grime, dust, rust and
weathered effects to your models is
made simple with Humbrol Washes.
Visit www.humbrol.com where you’ll
find help and advice as well as hints, tips
and product demonstration videos to get
the best out of the wide variety of
Humbrol products available!
/humbrol @humbrol /humbrol
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 17
 KIT REVIEWS

F-4M PHANTOM FG.1

Lee Powell reviews the 1/72 Italeri F-4M Phantom FG.1
F-4M PHANTOM FG.1
MANUFACTURER: Italeri
SCALE: 1/72
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic
KIT NUMBER: 1434

have always been a big fan of the Phantom

I since seeing it display at Boscombe down

in 1992, and the sheer power and noise
for an aircraft of its size blew me away! Back
then the 1/72 Matchbox offering was one of
my first few aircraft kits. I then moved on to
the 1/48 Fujimi kit in the mid-1990s, then it all
went quiet for years until recently. Last year
I built the two Airfix Phantoms, that reignited
my love for this aircraft and when I saw that
Italeri would be releasing a 1/72 RAF Phantom
I thought I really must check this kit out.

THE KIT
Upon opening the box there are five grey
sprues and two clear sprues plus four rubber
tyres, and a decal sheet with three options
(two Royal Air Force and one Royal Navy).
An initial browse through the plastic parts
showed the detail to be very nice and the
canopy parts being crystal clear (one sprue
being a closed-up canopy and the other sprue
being four separate parts to model an open
canopy). Upon checking I found that this was
a re-box of the original Fujimi kit! The decals
were nicely in register but felt very thick to
the touch. The build began with the cockpit,
which is reasonably detailed, though some
may wish to go to town super-detailing this
area. The seats are each built from four parts
and have belts moulded to the back and base
of the seat. They also have the double loop
ejection handles on the head box. Next up
was to join the fuselage together with the
cockpit sandwiched in-between. This was a
good fit, though the two side panels (parts
45 and 46) fit very poorly and had to be
trimmed to fit. The air intakes are standard
two piece and while they fit together ok,
there are some large gaps when joined to
the fuselage that require careful filling and
sanding. On this stage it tells you to cut a
hole for some small winglets/stabilisers near
the top of the tail but check the version you
are building as not all aircraft have these
(I found this out at the end of the build!).
WINGS
Moving on to stage two, this is the build of the
wings and mating them to the fuselage. The
upper wings join nicely to the lower section
and there are separate stabilisers (though
strangely no separate flaps?). I cut the flaps
out and filled and sanded them and attached
them to the wing section, I also drilled the holes
as directed for the Sidewinder pylons and the
fuel tanks as well as the centreline tank. The
wing fit to the fuselage was excellent with no
filler required, but the forward under-fuselage
section housing the nose wheel bay (part 8)
did not fit well to the lower wing or under the
nose section taking a lot of filler and sanding
to get to fit. The canopy and tail planes were
left off at this stage for the ease of painting.
UNDERCARRIAGE AND
ARMAMENT
Stage three and four deal with the
undercarriage assembly, and here I decided
to try the rubber tyres to see how they
looked, although parts were provided for
wheel and tyre in one piece in plastic if
required. As I had chosen the Royal Navy
aircraft to depict, I also used the extended
nose gear that was provided in a take-off
configuration, though this was not mentioned
in the instructions anywhere! The main
undercarriage was straightforward to
assemble, although a little delicate where
the wheel attaches to the undercarriage leg.
This stage also deals with the installation of
the underwing airbrakes and the jet exhausts
as well as the main undercarriage doors
that need to be cut carefully. The final stage
deals with the fuel tanks, Skyflash missiles,
Sidewinder missiles and pylons and either a
centreline gun pod or fuel tank. These were
all built but not attached at this point, as it
makes painting easier with a clean aircraft.

18 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


TIME TO PAINT
Painting was next, and first I masked off
the cockpit area and then gave it a coat of
Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. This highlighted
any gaps, which were filled, sanded and
then primed again until I was happy with
the result. I then moved on to some pre-
shading roughly along the panel lines using
Hataka Jet Black, which gave a nice finish.
Next up was the white on the bottom, and
here I used Hataka RAF Anti-Flash White
mixed 40:60 paint to thinners and gave this
a couple of coats, I also used this on the
Skyflash missiles, the Sidewinder pylons
and the pylons for the fuel tanks, as well as
the centre-line tank. The next area to tackle
were the jet exhausts and the metallic
areas around the tail. For this I used Citadel
Colour Leadbelcher, sprayed on in a couple
of light coats before small rectangles
were masked on the tail planes before I
gave them a coat of Tamiya X10 Gunmetal
for a slightly darker Metallic shade.
The white and metallic areas were all
masked off before the upper Dark Sea Grey
was sprayed on. I looked at many different
shades and makes of this colour and the
closest colour to my eye after looking at
many pictures was actually Humbrol 27
Acrylic Matt Sea Grey, so this was thinned
with Humbrol Thinners 40/60 paint to
thinners with a drop of Vallejo Retarder
mixed in with it. Then a couple of light coats
sprayed gave a nice smooth finish. The
sidewinders were sprayed with Humbrol 64
Acrylic Matt Light Grey and their tips were
painted Tamiya X10 Gunmetal. The details
were then painted with Tamiya X-11 for
metallic parts of the undercarriage and the
tail aerial as well as the wing-tip lights, and
the wingtip lights received a coat of Tamiya
X-25 Clear Green and Tamiya X-27 Clear Red.
ON FINALS
A coat of Tamiya TS-13 Clear was then
applied and left to dry before decalling
commenced. As was mentioned at the start,
the decals were quite thick and took a lot of
Micro Set and Micro Sol to settle down to
an acceptable level, there was also a ‘milky’
substance under all decals which took a
lot of careful wiping to get rid of. The decal
for the numbers on the nose looked a little
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
LATEST NEWS
FIRST LOOKS
KIT REVIEWS
oversized to me, and the decal placement
under the cockpit was not the clearest as to
where they went. With the decals finished
ACCESSORIES
and dried, another light coat of Tamiya TS-13
Clear was sprayed on and left to dry before
a Black Night panel line wash was added
on the upper and lower surfaces. This was
allowed to dry before any excess was wiped
off with a cloth damp a tiny drop of thinners.
The fuel tanks and weapons were added at
this point and finally some Ammo by MIG
Black Pigment was used to dirty up the rear
DECALS
metallic parts before a coat of Tamiya TS-80
Flat Clear was sprayed on to dull the finish
down. The canopy parts were then fitted,
before the tyres were added with a tiny
drop of Super Glue to keep them attached.
CONCLUSION
This is not a bad kit, but it does need some
care taken with filling and sanding and I
BOOK REVIEWS
would definitely change the kit decals and
buy some aftermarket ones. Also, double
check the Internet for the aircraft you are
building, so you get the right configuration.
That said it does build up into a great
representation of this beautiful aircraft -
with a bit of time and research spent on it.
Thanks to The Hobby Company
for the review sample
19
 KIT REVIEWS

DAYS OF GLORY AND OBLIVION

David Rainer reviews the 1/48 AK Interactive MiG-21PFM
MIG-21PFM – DAYS OF
GLORY AND OBLIVION
MANUFACTURER: AK Interactive
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Plastic injection
moulded with resin parts
KIT NUMBER: AK14003

THE KIT

T
he MiG-21 is one of those aircraft
almost everybody knows and
builds. This AK Interactive kit is an
Eduard reboxing with some added resin
goodness and some fantastic reference
pictures in the manual. You can either build
it as an abandoned GDR version,
which is what I went with or as a
few operational versions. For the
GDR version there are deflated tyres and
pre-weathered decals included in the kit.

BUILDING AND PAINTING
I started off with the cockpit and the seat.
Everything fits like a glove and requires
no clean-up. All the details in the cockpit
are hand painted and the instruments
were cut individually with some hole
punches. The fuselage itself falls
together perfectly with only
one or two small areas that
needed some sanding. Since the aircraft will
be heavily weathered and there is chipping
involved, I started by painting the fuselage
in the appropriate metal shades, and I also
painted the green antenna housings with a
custom green paint mix. Once the paint is
dry, I applied a good amount of Johnson’s
‘Klear’ to protect the base colours. Next, I
airbrushed on some Vallejo Chipping Medium.

20 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


In order for the chipping medium to work
properly the following layers of paint
should be as thin as possible. Thicker paint
layers will result in larger chips and paint
‘peeling’ off. The camouflage itself was
also custom mixed to my liking. I already
added a lot of colour variations in this step
to get a base level of faded and dirty paint.
CHIPPING AND FINISHING
To activate the chipping medium, I use
a stiff bristle brush with some warm
water. For scratches and smaller areas
some toothpicks come in handy. After the
chipping was done it was time for decals,
which I only applied to the areas where
there was still paint left. The already
weathered decals look great and go down
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FIRST LOOKS
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04921 BAe Hawk T.1 ‘Red Arrows’, 1:72
ACCESSORIES
03943 Bristol Beaufighter TF.X, 1:48
very well without any silvering. To get
them in all the panel lines and rivets I
like to use some Revell Decal Soft. I then
applied some general washes and filters
to panels using Ammo by MiG Blue Dirt
DECALS
and some of their engine oil and fuel stain
washes. I also added a generous amount
of streaking since the aircraft was stored
outside. To finish it all off I applied a good 04981 Westland Lynx Mk 8, 1:32
amount of Satin varnish, added all the
small stuff such as landing gear and
sensors and I also unmasked the canopy.
CONCLUSION
BOOK REVIEWS
In general it’s a really sweet kit with
great fitment and stunning detail. The
box contains enough parts to build
many different versions of the MiG-
21. The added parts by AK Interactive 03876 MH-47E / HC Mk 3 Chinook, 1:72
allow you to go crazy on weathering.
05661 HMS Revenge (Easy-Click), 1:350
Available from all good model
stockists and online from
hobbycraft.co.uk/brand/revell
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 21
 KIT REVIEWS

BRISTOL BLENHEIM MK.IF

Eifion Davies reviews the 1/48 Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF

BRISTOL BLENHEIM MK.1F

MANUFACTURER: Airfix
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic
KIT NUMBER: A01986

THE KIT

I
’ve always wanted to build a Blenheim,
so when Airfix released their 1/48 Mk.1F
I was excited! On opening the box, it was
clear straight away that there was a lot of
detail in this kit, another one of the great new
range from Airfix. I decided to go for a No.23
Squadron aircraft based at RAF Wittering in
February 1940. Looking through the sprues
before starting the build, the one obvious
flaw was the quality of the Vickers k machine
gun, simply nowhere near the standard of
the rest of the kit. I was disappointed as well
with the lack of even a decal for seatbelts,
considering how much of the interior is in
view through the huge canopy area. So, a
quick bit of internet shopping, resulting in
a Brengun resin Vickers gun, Eduard zoom
seatbelt set and an Eduard masking set.
THE BUILD
On to the build, and this began with the
cockpit and interior. I was aware of how
much of this would be visible, so decided to
spend a bit of time adding to the detailing,
such as a bit of weathering on the parachute
pack behind the pilot’s seat for example. I
also decided to leave the pilot figure out and
just added the Eduard seatbelts onto the
seats. The interior was painted using Vallejo
Model Air 71.305 Interior green, with some
weathering added using various Ammo
by MIG Oilbrushers. Next the fuselage was
joined together, and here I then diverted from
the instructions, choosing to put the wings
together and joining to the fuselage, before
placing the undercarriage in place. This I
hoped would ease the painting stage. All
bulkheads were put in place ready to accept
the undercarriage at a later stage. Here again
a little flaw was found in manufacturing of
this kit. The small triangular parts at the
join of the wing and fuselage are a little bit
too short, nothing a small amount of filler
won’t fix. Onto the engines and here again I
left the instructions and built the complete
cowlings before putting the engine in place.
PAINTING
Next came the impressive canopy. Because
there is so much on show I decided to try
something different and masked the inside,
then sprayed it, again in Vallejo Interior
Green. Once dry I peeled it and was pleasantly
surprised with the result, having never done
the inside before. Once these were fitted in
place, she was ready for paint. My chosen
primer was Ammo by MIG One-Shot Grey, and
once dry, I added Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green

22 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


and XF-52 Flat Earth to the upper surfaces
and Vallejo Model Air 71.056 Panzer Dark
Grey on the undersides. The engine cowlings
were painted separately prior to fitting
the engines before attaching in place.
FINISHING TOUCHES
Once the painting was done, I returned to
finishing the build, engines were completed,
and undercarriage built and painted. Next
came the turret, this comes with a handy
little jig to ensure it all stays square while
the glue sets. Again, I painted the inside in
interior green and the exterior fuselage
colour. The kit gun was replaced with
the Brengun version as this was vastly
superior to the part supplied in the kit. Once
assembled the model was given two coats
of Mr Hobby H30 Clear Gloss ready for
decals. The decals were put in place using
Micro Set and Micro Sol, and they settled
on quite well, conforming to all contours
once dry. Finally, a coat of Vallejo Matt
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
LATEST NEWS
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was sprayed over the entire kit, toning
down the gloss to a nice flat finish. The
final part of the assembly was the aerial
wire, and here I used Uschi 0.005 rigging
line. I dipped each end into superglue and
held in place for a few seconds until it set.
CONCLUSION
ACCESSORIES
Overall this was a really good kit, as
expected from the Airfix new moulds,
but it still had its little flaws, but
nothing some filler or replacement gun
couldn’t fix. I enjoyed this build and I’m
very pleased with how much detail can
be seen through the huge canopy.
DECALS
BOOK REVIEWS
23
 KIT REVIEWS
LUFTHANSA EMBRAER 190
John Bissett reviews the 1/144 Revell Lufthansa Embraer 190
LUFTHANSA EMBRAER 190
MANUFACTURER: Revell
SCALE: 1/144
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic
KIT NUMBER: 03937
THE KIT
his kit was first issued in 2016 and
T has been issued with several different
airline markings. My copy was in
original Lufthansa markings and has now been
issued by Revell with the new style Lufthansa
markings as kit #03883. The very similar
Embraer 195 is also available and Revell have
provided a very slightly longer fuselage for
that kit variant. This is a neatly moulded kit,
which includes a cockpit interior and nose gear
bay moulded as one-piece, something new to
me. This was nicely done and especially with
some painting to highlight provides more than
adequate detail in this scale, through what
are of course quite small cockpit windows.
THE BUILD
The instructions suggest 20 grams of nose
ballast is required, which I thought might be
hard to squeeze in and is probably a misprint.
After some careful balance testing, I used 6
grams, which proved more than enough. That
was placed mostly in front of the cockpit,
with some fitted around the sides of the nose
gear bay and a little more glued to the rear
face of the cockpit. One challenge for me with
airliners has been the difficulty of getting a
smooth white cabin top, especially when the
cabin is glazed before assembly and window
stripes are required. The Lufthansa Regional
scheme helps greatly, since the fuselage
is white overall and there is no window
24 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
stripe. The cabin window glazing in this kit
is provided by clear decal sections only,
though I prefer to use Microscale Krystal
Klear instead. I suspect any good quality
white glue would dry to sufficient clarity. This
meant that once I’d closed up the fuselage
and sanded down the seams, I covered over
the cockpit opening and was able to spray
the fuselage all over white easily. The fit of
parts was good, and all I need was a light
application of filler and some careful wet
and dry work before painting. The aircraft’s
fuselage aerials are moulded into one half,
so some care was needed with the wet and
dry. There also some small bulges moulded
into the fuselage which should be there,
below entrance doors. I nearly sanded
them off, before looking more carefully!
WINGS AND TAIL
The wings are nicely moulded as upper and
lower halves, fitting well together. Because
the fit to the fuselage was good, I elected to
paint both the wings and tail plane halves
before assembly. That also made detailing
the de-icing strips easier. One wingtip winglet
had been poorly moulded so that it was too
large and fat. Careful trimming brought it
back to the correct shape. Fortunately, the
other winglet was correctly shaped, which
helped guide me. A careful look at the tail
planes shows that some most realistic airfoil
profiles have been moulded in, showing the
inverted aerofoil sections, which I thought
was quite impressive attention to detail.
ENGINES AND
UNDERCARRIAGE
The rear central cones for the engines
were, I felt, slightly too tight a fit, so the
inner ends were trimmed to increase the
gap around these. On the real aircraft
there is a noticeable gap at the fan exit
point. Overall the fit of all major parts was
excellent, with little or no filler needed,
although I did trim the slightly unusual
front nose gear door arrangement. Some
parts fit tightly enough to need no glueing.
The undercarriage doors are of course
over scale in thickness, impossible to avoid
with mouldings. I am tempted to replace
them with either heavy weight tinfoil
or lithoplate. Thin plasticard is another
possibility, using the originals as templates.

DECALS
Fuselage window decals are good, though
I found cutting them into batches of three
helped make alignment easier. Take care
here; the long decal strips, two per side,
are positioned from the front and the rear
respectively. One central window each side
is left out, since it will have emergency
over-wing exit symbols. There are a lot of
fine decals, which greatly enhance the look
of the aircraft. These are quite thin and
delicate, so some care is needed. I found I
could not quite get the wing walkway decals
to match up, so a very fine pen is helpful
to touch in there. Because some decals fit
LATEST NEWS
Washes
FIRST LOOKS
Take your models to the
next level of realism
KIT REVIEWS
ACCESSORIES
Before
over earlier ones, it is worth taking time
and sealing the first decals with a suitable
clear varnish before adding later ones.
CONCLUSION
DECALS
I very much enjoyed this build, with good
parts fit and a scheme which looks good.
My personal preference is for the ‘classic’
Lufthansa scheme, which I associate
with many a happy trip way back to 707
& 727 days. There are several other
After
attractive Embraer schemes I’d like to try;
an airliner line-up is something I haven’t
done for a while. Strongly recommended.
BOOK REVIEWS
Thanks to Revell for the review sample.
• Perfect for creating grime, dust and
rust effects
• Apply to locomotives, wagons,
buildings and many more
Visit www.humbrol.com where you’ll
find help and advice as well as hints, tips
and product demonstration videos to get
the best out of the wide variety of
Humbrol products available!
/humbrol @humbrol /humbrol
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 25
 KIT REVIEWS
F/A-18E SUPER HORNET
John Bisset reviews the 1/48 Italeri F/A-18E
F/A-18E SUPER HORNET
MANUFACTURER: Italeri
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic
KIT NUMBER: 2791
his kit was first issued around 2001 and
T has apparently been re-issued several
times since with different markings
as both as a single seater or two-seater. I say
apparently because trawling the internet
I see two quite different styles of kit, with
differing parts breakdown, so either Italeri
have seriously revised this offering or they
have used two differently designed kits. At
least one well known online source, which
claims to show kit histories has clearly got
this one wrong. This is not the same moulding
as the Revell F/A-18E which I have in my kit
stash, and the breakdown is quite different.
This kit is a real curate’s egg - good in parts.
There is some well defined surfacing detail
and some nicely moulded weaponry, some
disappointingly plain areas and at the same
time an extraordinarily complex parts
assembly which makes the fit a nightmare.
I spent a lot of time dry fitting, carving and
shaping to get the best possible fit of the main
parts and still had much filling and sanding
to do to get a reasonable result. This is not
a kit which slots together neatly or easily.
THE BUILD BEGINS
The cockpit, with which I started is
completely plain with instrument and side
panel detail provided entirely by decals, a
control column and a three-part ejection seat
with embossed seat straps providing the
only additions. I felt this was inadequate, so I
added some spot detailing to the instruments
and made up ejection seat straps from foil to
add some realism to the area. The cockpit tub
is then fitted into the upper decking section
of the fuselage, moulded in one piece; the
cockpit position is not well defined so dry
fitting and the addition of the glued together
lower front fuselage sections helps. After
gluing together, the front fuselage section
and the upper front decking, it was time for
the air intakes. As with most Super Hornet
kits, the designers have spent considerable
effort trying to duplicate the complex
rectangular intake design. The rather
complex arrangement of the intake build
meant that I had two episodes of filling and
sanding to do here, a taste of things to come,
to achieve a satisfactory effect. This kit, like
several others, provides too short an intake
section before adding the nominal engine
front faces, making them easily visible from
the intakes. On the real aircraft, the front
26 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
engine faces are well toward the rear of the
main undercarriage bays. I added some round
tubing of the right diameter to each side,
cut from old pen bodies, to produce suitable
depth. In practice it’s not normally possible to
see the fan fronts from the intakes anyway,
which helps reduce radar reflectivity.
MOVING ON
The completed intake sections glue into
the lower rear fuselage, on to which the
horizontal tail planes are already moulded.
This at least saves some fragile connections.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, the inner lower
wing sections are also moulded onto the
rear fuselage and this caused fit issues later
on. Next the rear fuselage is glued to the
upper fuselage sections and the undersides
of the prominent wing LERX were added in.
All this goes well and appears a good fit,
though some filling of the LERX undersides
is necessary. Next, the upper wings are
fitted to the assembly. This is where it all
goes wrong. The fit of the wing undersides
is excellent, however the upper wing fit to
the fuselage sections is dreadful. There
are four locating holes moulded on to the
upper fuselage piece. I can find no way to
get the upper wing locating pins to match
these, even with careful trimming of the
underside sections to provide more room
for adjustment. Eventually I glued the upper
wings, held as firmly as possible in place
until the glue dried, then started filing and
filling to smooth out the upper surface fit.
Fortunately, the real machine has little
surface detail visible in this area. While I
was at it, I took the opportunity to fill in two
small panels provided as separate parts on
the top surface of the kit’s LERX. I don’t know
what they are supposed to be and can see
no sign of them on photographs of the real
thing. It was suggested to me that they were
airbrakes, however the Super Hornet does
not have conventional airbrakes. In place
of the large upward moving airbrake of the
earlier Hornet, in the F/A-18E when airbrake
is selected, the ailerons and spoilers go up,
flaps go down and the rudders splay out.
The benefits of modern software control!
FURTHER ON
After much filling and sanding, the upper
wing and fuselage junction was satisfactory.
I then attached the tail fins and after painting
assembled the afterburner sections. By now
the kit was beginning to look like a Hornet,
so on to the undercarriage, which provides
a well moulded representation of the hefty
wheels and gear of the Super Hornet. This,
along with the well detailed undercarriage
bays and doors is one of the highlights
of the kit, curiously at odds with the very
plain cockpit interior. Despite this, there is
a flaw to be dealt with. The main legs slot
firmly into a strong mounting which forces
the main legs to rake back far too much. I
didn’t spot this until after I’d glued the legs
in, so had to realign everything and then
reinforce the mountings. I recommend
trimming off the front of the mounting to
align the main legs with only a slight rake
back of around five degrees or so. I had
pre-painted the undercarriage, wheel wells
and gear doors white beforehand using car
spray rattle cans of undercoat and gloss
white, which brought up the detail nicely.

I did some shadowing with dry brushed
dark grey, carefully limited since the USN
and USMC keep their aircraft very tidy.
STORES
The stores provided in this kit provide an
interesting variety. They include Sidewinders
and an AMRAAM for air to air defence, two
Harpoons for anti-ship attack, two HARM
missiles for anti-radar work plus two
LGBs and a laser detector/camera pod, the
ASQ-173, plus a centreline 330-gallon drop
tank. I realise the Hornet is a multi mission
capable machine, but this seems an unusual
mix for any normal sortie. Perhaps it was
used as a demonstration load out or at an
airshow, filling all seven pylons plus the
fuselage corner mounts and the wingtip
missile stations. I decided that if LGBs
were carried it was more likely the aircraft
would be fitted either with the AAS-38
laser designator or its replacement, the
ASQ-228 in place of the ASQ-173 detector.
I used some spare sprue to mock-up a an
ASQ-228. A ground attack load of centreline
tank, ASQ-228 and four LGBs would still
allow the carriage of two HARMs for
radar suppression, one AMRAAM and two
Sidewinders for self defence. That seemed
a feasible load, though since the LGBs were
the smaller GBU-12 the Super Hornet could
carry two or possibly even three per pylon
using adapters. My excuse was that one per
pylon would improve range by lowering
weight and drag. It is pity that only one
drop tank was supplied. Adding drop tanks
to the inner wing pylons would have nicely
displayed the toe out of the pylons, done
to ensure good store jettison clearance.
DECALS
The decals provided cover three aircraft,
two of them CAG birds and the third a
machine which visited RAF Lossiemouth
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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some years ago. Actually, for that aircraft
two different pilot names are given which
seems odd since only one serial and deck
number is provided. The decals are thin
and fit well, though they need care in
handling. They will curl up easily and tear
ACCESSORIES
unless gently moved around. I adopted the
technique of using a small wet paint brush
to ease the decals into place. This takes
patience, not my strong suit. The green
paint scheme for ‘Chippy Ho’ of VFA 195, the
Dambusters, was quite attractive so I settled
for that. The decal split is well thought out,
with separate pieces to cover tail sections
with multiple bulges, and greatly enhanced
DECALS
the look of the aircraft. Once I had attached
the decals, I tried some very light fading
with pale grey and off-white paint washes.
Since the USN keeps its aircraft fairly clean
I kept that to a minimum, although paint
fading at sea is an issue with these greys.
I may redo this later, since I can hardly see
any weathering effect in the pictures.
BOOK REVIEWS
CONCLUSION
My final task was to attach all the pylons
and weapons, which really do bring the
model, otherwise mostly just ‘another
boring grey aeroplane’, to life. Having
finally got to this completion stage I found
I was pleased with the final look. Resisting
the desire to hammer the beast had paid
off! This is not a quick build, nor an easy
one. There is however a good kit in there, it
just takes some work to find. Thanks to The
Hobby Company for the review sample.
27
 ACCESSORIES
EDUARD BRASSIN
ou may notice a bit of a
Y theme running through
this month’s Brassin
releases. Eduard has really gone
to town with lots of sets for their
new Mustang kit. I must confess
that I did not realise that there
were quite as many variations on
tyre treads fitted to Mustangs
over their lifetime. There are
no less than 7 different resin
versions in this months line up.
Eduard have also released two
cockpit sets which at a cursory
glance look pretty similar, but
on closer inspection, you will see
that they are indeed different,
with one having alternate parts
28 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
for the P-51D-10 and D-15+, the
other set is for the P-51D-5 which
is the latest boxing without the
fillet on the tail. The level of
detail Eduard have included is
phenomenal, the rudder pedals
even have the North American
Aircraft company logo on them!
1/48 SCALE
648 485 P-51D Exhaust
stacks (for Eduard kit)
648 487 P-51D Hamilton Standard
propeller (for Eduard kit)
648 488 P-51D Hamilton Standard
uncuffed propeller (for Eduard kit)
648 489 P-51D-5 Cockpit
(for Eduard kit)
648 495 P-51D Undercarriage
legs, bronze (for Eduard kit)
648 503 P-51D Wheels oval
tread (for Eduard kit)
648 504 P-51D Wheels cross
tread (for Eduard kit)
648 505 P-51D Wheels block
tread (for Eduard kit)
648 511 P-51D Wheels diamond can. If you just fancy
tread (for Eduard kit) adding a bit of basic
648 512 P-51D Wheels rhomboid
detail, you might want
tread (for Eduard kit)
648 513 P-51D Wheels pointed
to consider the LööK set
cross tread (for Eduard kit) or the Zoom sets. The
648 514 P-51D Wheels grooved Mustang is a popular
tread (for Eduard kit)
subject and I am really
648 517 P-51D Gun bays for Eduard kit)
looking forward to seeing
648 522 P-51D Cockpit (for Eduard kit)
these sets used in future
builds in these pages.
CONCLUSION As ever my thanks
I think it is fair to say that to Eduard for supplying
these sets are really for the these sets for review
connoisseurs amongst us who www.eduard.com
really know their subject and
want to get the best and most
accurate model they possibly
RES KIT
his month we received
T another envelope
from Ukraine, this time
containing a really nice resin
representation of the F-102 Delta
Dagger wheels. A real nice touch
is that they have supplied a photo
etched representation of the
wheel hubs as these would have
been difficult to cast in resin
1/48 SCALE
RS48-0073 CONVAIR F-102
DELTA DAGGER WHEELS SET
Designed for: Trumpeter /Monogram
CONCLUSION
You can view the fall range of Res Kit products at
their web site www.reskit.com.ua and in the UK
this range is stocked by Hannants in the UK.

EDUARD MASK
anopy masks are for me
C pretty much an essential
item, as I am rubbish at
masking. Throughout the Eduard
Accessories section, we have been
looking at sets for two particular
kits, the 1/48 scale Eduard P-51D
and 1/32 scale Revell Me 262A,
so it is no surprise to see that
Eduard have released mask
sets for both of these kits.
SCALE AIRCRAFT CONVERSIONS
nly two new set for Texas
O based Scale Aircraft
Conversions, the first is for
the brand new Italeri F-35B and
as well as supplying new metal
legs also supplies the cockpit floor
and sidewalls in metal as well as
thanks to its stumpy nose and large
amount of plastic at the back of the
model, this kit is a real tail sitter. For
the next item we have to go back
to a kit first released way back in
1972 in the shape of Airfix’s 1/24
Scale Messerschmitt BF-109E a type whose
spindly legs could do with reinforcement,
further strength is added by the inclusion of
the undercarriage doors in metal as well.
1/24 SCALE
MESSERSCHMITT BF109E UNDERCARRIAGE
AND MAIN UNDERCARRIAGE DOORS
Product No: 24-011
Designed for: Airfix
LATEST NEWS
For the P-51D the set is a 1/48 SCALE
TFace set which includes masks
for both the inside and outside of
EX663 P-51D TFace (for Eduard kit)
FIRST LOOKS
the canopy. There are two sets 1/32 SCALE
for the 262 a TFace and a set JX244 Me 262A (for Revell kit)
JX245 Me 262A TFace (for Revell kit)
that just supplies the external
masks at a slightly cheaper
price. And as a small bonus both CONCLUSION
sets include wheel masks too. I am a big fan of these Eduard
masks, the yellow tape they
are made from sticks well and
the fit is always spot on in my
KIT REVIEWS
experience. The TFace masks My thanks to Eduard for
take masking to the next level supplying these samples for
and if you are having the canopy review www.eduard.com .
posed open then you might want
to consider these
as an option.
I have tried the
TFace masks in
1/72 scale on my
A SIMPLE
ACCESSORIES
MiG-21 (see last GUIDE TO
month’s issue)
and I am definitely MASKING
converted. CANOPIES
by Mike Andrews
DECALS
BOOK REVIEWS
1/72 SCALE
LOCKHEED F-35B LIGHTNING II
UNDERCARRIAGE AND COCKPIT
Product No: 72-174
Designed for: Italeri
CONCLUSION
These samples were provided by Scale
Aircraft Conversions and will be available
to purchase in the UK from Hannants and
you can order them from
Scale Aircraft Conversions
own web site at www.
scaleaircraftconversions.
com.
Our thanks to Ross
McMillan for supplying
the review samples.
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 29
 ACCESSORIES
ICM
he latest 1/32 scale figure
T kit supplies three figures
ts in various pieces of RAF
tropical and is obviously designed to
compliment their Gloster Gladiator
though I imagine many may team them
with a Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk.
Two of the pilots are in full flying
gear with Mae West lifejackets
and flying helmets, both pilots are
wearing short sleeve shirts. To make
them look different one is wearing
long trousers while the second has
shorts and long socks which looks
very British! The third figure is taking
notes from the two pilots and looks
like an intelligence office taking a
debriefing session after a mission.
The plastic parts are supplied on
one runner, with each figure being
assembled from several of parts.
The quality of the moulding is to a
very high standard that rivals that
obtained with expensive resin figures.
The facial features are well captured
while items like the Mae West life
jackets will need some careful
painting to make the most of them.
The instructions are clear written
and guide you through construction
and painting using the widely
available Revell and Tamiya brands.
1/32 SCALE
BRITISH PILOTS ON TROPICAL UNIFORM
Part Number: 32106
CONCLUSION
These sets will really make a superb
display when combined with a simple
base and a near or far east aircraft
marked aircraft. This set retails for
a mere £11.99 where a single resin
figure would cost £5 more than that
. Which makes these set very good
value for money in my opinion, I am
sure in a few months time you will also
will find this figure set bundled with
the Gladiator at a cheaper combined
price than buying them separately..
My thanks to ICM for supplying
us. With the review sample.
30 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
EDUARD
LÖÖK
his month we take
T a ‘look’ at three new
1/48 scale and two
1/32 scale releases in the
Eduard Löök line. Two of
the 1/48 panels are for the
Eduard P-51D, the D-10 and
the D-15+ while the third is
for another Eduard kit the
P-400 Airacobra. Moving
up to 1/32 scale both panels
are for recent Revell kits the
Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8 and
the Messerschmitt Me 262A
All of these sets are
cast in black resin, with
colour printed details
and glazed instrument
dials. They are designed
as direct replacements
for the kit parts, making
these sets a very simple
drop in upgrade with the
GT RESIN
e received
W this set at the
US Nationals
last year with a selection
of other other GT resin
sets. Designed as a direct
replacement for the
outer wing panels for
Revell’s F-4E/F/G 1/32
scale Phantom. This resin
parts supplies more and
better quality detail when
compared to the plastic
parts they will replace.
The slats can be posed in
the retracted or extended
position and the resin
outer panels also have
accurate slime list panels
added bonus of a set of
pre coloured seatbelts
1/48 SCALE
644 025 P-400 (for Eduard kit)
644 030 P-51D-10 (for Eduard kit)
644 031 P-51D-15+ (for Eduard kit)
1/32 SCALE
634 014 Fw 190A-8 (for Revell kit)
634 015 Me 262A (for Revell kit)
CONCLUSION
For 1/48 and 1/32 scale
these instrument panels
and navigations light.
The preparation is
minimal and when I
tested fitted the resin
parts to a Phantom
from my stash the fit
was very good with the
correct 12 degree angle.
1/32 SCALE
32069 F-4E/F/G
SLAT WING SET
Designed for: Revell E/F/G
CONCLUSION
A very nice upgrade
to the Revell kit for
which GT Resin have
produced a wide range
of detail and upgrade
parts enabling you to
turn this basic kit into a
offer a more 3-dimensional
option than a coloured
etched brass photo-
etched paneI. The only
improvement you could
make is to add a dark
wash to lift out the details
followed by a flat varnish
to tone down the panels
slightly. If you use an
airbrush for the matt
coat you might want
to add a drop of gloss
varnish to the dials.
In the Brassin section
this month we featured
the large number of sets
available for the new
Eduard Mustang, However
if you only want to add
a little bit of extra detail
to your P-51 these Löök
sets maybe just what
you are ‘looking’ for.
My thanks to Eduard
for supplying these
samples for review
www.eduard.com .
modelling masterpiece.
We do not know
of a UK stockist for
this range but Sprue
Brothers carry the full
range while and you can
contact the manufacturer
with any questions via
email at garyhatherly@
gtresinproducts.
com. Our thanks to GT
Resin for providing
the review sample.
 LATEST NEWS
EDUARD YAHU
n the Brassin and MODELS
I Löök sections this
month we saw his month we have a

some of the amazing
sets available for the
new Eduard P-51 D. In
the etched brass range
there is the ‘traditional’
etched brass set which
supplies parts for the
interior and exterior, this
set is quite unusual in the
FIRST LOOKS
number of new sets
from Yahu aimed at both
new kits like ICM’s or Special
Hobbies Polikarpov’s I-16 in
an unpainted brass sheet, all their boxings or slightly
supplying details like the older kits like Tamiya’s 1/32
rudder pedals and side scale Vought Corsair which
wall details. The exterior is now seven years old!
set offers some nice extra

current Eduard range as it
does not include any pre-
coloured frets This is left to
the Zoom set which offers a
nice set of pre-painted steel
seatbelts though I would
suggest investing in a Löök
instrument panel as this
also includes the belts for
KIT REVIEWS
detail including scale
thickness replacement 1/32 SCALE
gun bay doors. 32448 Me 262A exterior
set (for Revell kit)
32960 Me 262A interior
EDUARD ZOOM set (for Revell kit)
1/48 SCALE
FE1021 P-51D seatbelts, CONCLUSION
steel (for Eduard kit)
The Zoom sets offer a
1/32 SCALE pre-coloured photo-etch

just a few pounds more!
The other sets this
month are for the 1/32
scale Revell Me 262A. The
interior set has a pre-
coloured fret (the same
as the one sold separately
in the Zoom range) and
33240 Me 262A cockpit
set (for Revell kit)
3341 Me 262A Seatbelts,
steel (for Revell kit)
EDUARD
1/48 SCALE
481000 P-51D interior/
exterior set (for Eduard kit)
ACCESSORIES
option, which are slightly
more involved than the
Löök sets, so if you want
to get into super detailing
your model these sets are
an easy way to start. The
sets in the standard range
are a bit more complex
and will require some 1/32 SCALE

painting but add extra
detail to both the interior
and exteriors that is just
not possible to reproduce in
injection moulded plastic.
My thanks to Eduard
for supplying these
samples for review
www.eduard.com .
DECALS
YMA3247 F4U-1D CORSAIR
Designed for: Tamiya
YMA3256 POLIKARPOV1-16 TYPE.10
Designed for: ICM, Revell/
Hasegawa, Special Hobby, Azur
1/48 SCALE
YMA4881 SPITFIRE MK.1
Designed for: Tamiya (2018)

BOOK REVIEWS
CONCLUSION
If you are new to adding that
bit of extra detail to a model

KAZAN MODEL DYNAMICS or are just looking to add

that little bit of extra detail
e introduced you to this with one set of wheels as the Germans these instrument panels will

W company in the last issue,

and this month we take a
look at their undercarriage set in 1/48
scale for Eduard’s Bf 109G-5 and later.
These seats are called ‘Hybrid Cast’ and
feature stainless steel parts to represent
the compression part of the oleo struts.
Unlike the set for the Eduard Mustang we
looked at last month this set only comes
did not have the great variety of tyre
tread pattern seen on Allied aircraft
really fit the bill. They are a
simple drop in replacement
for the kit parts or as it says
1/48 SCALE on the packet ‘Just Stick’!
KLG4801EDU Hybrid Cast Landing gear set My thanks to Yahu Models
for the Bf 109G-5 and later (for Eduard kit)
for supplying the review
CONCLUSION samples which in the UK
This set offers multipart landing gear legs are stocked by Hannants.
with moulded in metal oleos, separate torque
links, moulded brake lines and separate
hubs for the wheels and look superb..
These Kazan sets are certainly
different from the usual resin sets and
I look forward to seeing what they look
like on my next Messerschmitt Bf109.
My thanks to Kazan Model Dynamics
for supplying these sets for review
www.kazanmodeldynamics.com

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 31

 DECALS
XTRADECAL
he latest sheets from
T Xtradecal includes two
beautiful sheets for the
Italeri C-130J Hercules both
of which have colourful art
work added to the tail and rear
fuselage . This makes a welcome
change from the current overall
grey camouflage applied to the
type. As there was a little spare
space on the sheets Xtradecal
have also included scheme
for two frontline RAF aircraft
in 2019 a Typhoon GR.4 and
an F-35B Lightning II.
Finally arriving the week
before Airfix’s new Hunter F.4 is
this sheet which supplies eleven
RAF examples including the
one piloted by Mike McEvoy a
well known face on the English
BEGEMONT
he latest sheet from
T Begemont only has
six marking options
which is very unusual for this
manufacture. But considering
their is only one Antonov
AN-225 flying at the moment
(though it may soon be joined by
a second) is not really surprising.
This decal sheet traces
the evolution of the worlds
largest aircraft from its first
flight to the present day. The
type was originally designed
to carry the Russian space
shuttle the Buran. But with the
dissolution of the USSR the
aircraft was in the Antonov
factory in the Ukraine and has
32 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
modelling scene. The 12th
option is Mike aircraft after
its sales and refurbishment
for use by the Chilean aircraft
during the late 1970’s.
1/48 SCALE
HAWKER HUNTER F.4
WV255, ‘X’ flown by Flight Officer
Nigel Walpole of 26 Squadron,
Royal Air Force, based at RAF
Oldenburg, West Germany, 1956.
XF313, ‘G’ of 76 Squadron, Royal
Air Force based at RAF Bruggen,
West Germany, December, 1956.
WV269, ‘H’ of 74 Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at RAF
Horsham St Faith during
‘Exercise Valiant’ May 1957.
WV314, ‘B’ of 92 Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at RAF
Linton?”on-Ouse, 1056.
XE667, ‘Z’ of IV (AC) Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at
RAF Geilenkirchen, West
Germany, 3 April 1956.
WW663, ‘H’ flown by the C.O.
of 14 Squadron, Royal Air
now been used by Antonov
Airlines as a successful
super heavy air transport.
Over the last 30 years the
types scheme has evolved, the
original red pin stripe scheme
has the red hammer and sickle
flag on the tail which was
replaced by the Ukranian flag
and then airline markings were
added to the fuselage and
under the nose. In 2008 the red
scheme was replaced by a blue
Force based at RAF Alhorn, West
Germany, 18 March 1957.
WV973, ‘B’ of 20 Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at RAF
Oldenburg, West Germany, 1957.
XF317, ‘U’ flown by Flying Officer Mike
McEvoy of ‘B Flight’, 67 Squadron,
Royal Air Force, based at RAF
Bruggen, West Germany, April 1957.
WV267, ‘R’ of 93 Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at RAF
Jever, West Germany, 1957.
WT802, ‘P’ of 98 Squadron,
Royal Air Force based at RAF
Jever, West Germany, 1957.
XE713, ‘E’ of 66 Squadron, Royal Air
Force based at RAF Acklington, 1959.
Hunter FR.71A, J-734 (Previously
ex-RAF XF317) of 8 Grupo, Chilean
Air Force, based in Chile, 1976.
1/72 SCALE
X723126 RAF LOCKHEED
C-130J HERCULES C.5
SPECIAL SCHEMES PT 1
Lockheed C-130J Hercules C.5 ‘ZH883’
of 47 Squadron, Royal Air Force based
at RAF Brize Norton, UK, 2016.
Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4, ZJ924, IX
Squadron, RAF Marham, June 2019
one and again this has evolved
with the most up to date scheme
being included in the Revell kit.
BE144-004 ANTONOV
AN-225 (COSSACK)
Antonov An-225, CCCP-82060, Le
Bourget Air Salon, Paris, June 1989.
Antonov An-225, CCCP-82060, Le
Bourget Air Salon, Paris, June 1991.
X72317 RAF LOCKHEED
C-130J HERCULES C.5
SPECIAL SCHEMES PT 2
Lockheed C-130J Hercules C.5 ‘ZH880’
of 47 Squadron, Royal Air Force based
at RAF Brize Norton, UK, 2016.
Lockeed Martin F-35B, ZM151,
617 Squadron F-35B, RAF
Marham, Late 2019.
CONCLUSION
The Airix Hunter already has
some attractive markings but
the Xtradecal sheet supplies you
with a few more inspirational
schemes. And if you have room
on your shelf for two C-130
Hercules that would be easier
than trying to choose between
these two attractive options.
Our thanks to Hannants for
supplying the review sample
which can be purchased at both
Lowestoft and London shops
as well as their web site.
Antonov An-225, UR-82060,
MAKS-2001, Air Salon,
Zhukovskly, August 2001.
Antonov An-225, UR-82060,
Antonov Airlines, Kiev 2005.
Antonov An-225, UR-82060,
Antonov Airlines, Kiev 2005.
Antonov An-225, UR-82060,
Antonov Airlines, Kiev 2008.
CONCLUSION
A very impressive sheet
which is beautifully printed
and combined with the kits
sheet enables you to produce
all seven schemes carried by
the An-225. This would make a
great mini large theme, though
where you would house seven
of these beasts I have no idea.
My thanks to Begemot for
supplying the review sample.

PRINT SCALE
ith the release of Airfix and
W Eduard P-51 Mustang many
modellers have been looking
for some attractive schemes to apply
to them. But most forget that the type
served in quite large numbers over
Korea with four different Air Forces. Now
Print Scale have released two sheets
that supplies some attractive options
from this often overlooked conflict.
1/48 SCALE
48-170 P-51 MUSTANG UNITS OF
THE KOREAN WAR PART 1
F-51D-25 A68-720 (44-84482) of No 77
Sqn, RAAF Pusan East (K-9), March 1951.
F-51D (serial unknown) of No 1 Sqn/10th FG
RoKAF, Kangnung (K-18), autumn 1951.
F-51D of No 2 Sqn, SAAF, Pyongyang
East AB, (K-24), December 1950.
F-51D of No 2 Sqn, SAAF, Pyongyang
East AB (K-24), December 1950.
48-171 P-51 MUSTANG UNITS OF
THE KOREAN WAR PART 2
F-51D-24 44-73770 of the 40th FIS/35th
FBG, Pusan West AB (K-1), spring 1951.
F=51D-30-NA “Buckeye Blitz-IV” Unit: 36th FBS,
AIR GRAPHICS
ast month we review the resin
L upgrades for the MH-60T Jayhawk
and I said the only thing stopping me
from starting it was the lack of available
decals. Well now I have no excuse because
this new sheet includes markings for a
very attractive overall yellow example.
In fact yellow is the most common
colour for most of the helicopters on
this colourful sheets though you do have
a couple of low viz options as well. As is
normal you have a number of useful colour
photographs illustrating the schemes as
well as the normal colourful side profiles
keyed to the Humbrol, Xtracolour, Revell
Model Master and Lifecolour ranges.
1/72 SCALE
AIR72-008 WORLD AIR POWER UPDATE
SEARCH & RESCUE AIRCRAFT PART 1
Agusta-Westland CH-149 Cormorant, 149906, ‘906’
of 103 Search and Rescue Squadron, Canadian
Armed Forces, based at 9 Wing Gander 2019.
Eurocopter SA365F1 Dauphin II ‘Pedro’, ‘362’ of 35F
on board Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91),
Force maritime de d’aeronautique navale, (French
Naval Aviation) based in La Rochelle, France 2006.
Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk, 6042 of
United States Coast Guard, based at
Cape Cop, Massachusetts 2017.
Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk, 6001 of United
States Coast Guard, based at Aviation
Training Centre, Mobile, Alabama 2017.
Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican, 1484 ‘84’ of
United States Coast Guard, based at
San Francisco, California 1988.
8th FBW. Serial: 44-74941 Taegu, Korea, 1953.
F-51D-30 44-74840 of the 12th FBS/18th
FBG, Hoengsong AB (K-46), autumn 1952.
CONCLUSION
In usual Print Scale style the
instructions include a number of period
photographs of the marking options so
you can be sure they are 100% accurate,
and they include the far lighter orange
colour used for the Springbok on the
South African examples. That is rarely
correct on most aftermarket sheets.
Our thank to Print Scale for
supplying the review sample.
Eurocopter HH-65C Dolphin, ‘6588’ of United
States Coast Guard, based Coast Guard
Station, Los Angeles, USA, October 2006.
Westland Sea King HAR.3, XZ589, of ‘D
Flight’, 202 Squadron, Royal Air Force,
based at RAF Lossiemouth 1994.
Bell 412EP Griffin HT.1, XJ704, of 84 Squadron, Royal
Air Force, based at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus 2005.
Eurocopter AS332-B Super Puma HD.21,
HD.21-03, ‘803.03’ of Escuadron 803, Ejercito
Del Aire, based at Getafe, Spain 2018.
CONCLUSION
A really nice mini theme and we have at
least one further sheet to come on this
subject which I hope may include some
of the fixed wing aircraft used in search
and rescue role around the world.
Our thanks to Target Decals for
supplying the review sample which can
be purchased from their web site at
www.air-graphics.co.uk, and we thank
them for supplying the review sample.
(Please note on our scans of the decal sheet
the vibrant ‘Day Glo’ colours printed perfectly
on the decal sheet have become muted.)
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
LATEST NEWS
EDUARD DECALS
ast year Eduard purchased a new
L decal printing machine so it was
no surprise when we started
FIRST LOOKS
receiving a selection of sheets all
marked as printed in the Czech Republic
and all for recent Eduard releases.
The first two supply national
insignia, the P-51D best supples
enough start and bars for one aircraft
while the BF109G-10 sheet supplies
four versions of the national insignia
and three styles for the upper and
KIT REVIEWS
lower a wing. Multipart swastikas are
included for two aircraft in two sizes.
Though in countries that do not have
restrictions on the swastika image also
have two one piece versions as well.
The final sheet supplies a complete
set of stencils for the Mustang and
I am sure most of these will find
homes on other manufacturers kits
ACCESSORIES
as Eduard own P-51 already comes
with comprehensive stencils
1/48 SCALE
D48033 P-51D national insignia
D48034 P-51D stencils
D48035 Bf 109G-10 MTT /
WNF national insignia
CONCLUSION
DECALS
These sheets will make good additions
to the spares box and certainly the
Mustang Stencils will find a good
home on any Japanese kits you may
still have in the to build stash.
Our thanks to Eduard for supplying
the review sample which can be
purchased from any Eduard stockist.
BOOK REVIEWS
33
 DECALS
BLACKBIRD MODELS
nother sheet from
A Blackbird Models for a
subject that I am sure
no other manufacturer would
consider. This I time we have
three aircraft in service with
the Argentine navy to of which
would have been active during
the Falklands war. Though we
start 35 years earlier with an
early version of the Lockheed
Neptune which will require
Blackbirds own conversion to
backdate the Hasegawa kit. We
then move forward to 1982 were
we gain have another Neptune
but this time in a camouflage
scheme that can be applied to
the Hasegawa kit with a few
LIVERIES UNLIMITED @ FUNDEKALS
ast month we took a look
L at the two sheets from the
Liveries Unlimited range
covering the Boeing 737NG family
of aircraft and this month we
have the final two in the range.
As I said last month, we are
blessed with a number of good
737 kits in 144 scale but the best
representation is the Zvezda
version which out of the box
supply both the 737-700 & 800.
The decals as always from this
manufacturer are superbly printed
in Italy and the colours match
those of the real thing according to
my reference photographs. Made
up serial numbers are supplied
on each decal sheet to build
the examples illustrated by the
instructions. Full number jungles
are also supplied so it is actually
possible to build nearly every
aircraft in the fleet of your choice.
The incredibly comprehensive
instructions can be downloaded
before you at www.fundekals.com.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
At the IPMS US Nationals at
Phoenix in 2018, the sight
of Southwest 737s landing
at Skyharbour (Is that not
the coolest name?) was a
regular sight and they were
certainly the most colourful
aircraft on the airport.
So, I was very pleased when
this sheet was announced though
34 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
scratch built additions. This
aircraft detected HMS Sheffield
which led directly to the attack
and sinking by expect missile
fired from a Super Etendard.
Finally we have a Shorts
Skyvan that was destroyed
by the SAS on a raid on an
Argentine base on Pebble
Island an easy build from the
Airfix or Eastern Express kit.
1/72 SCALE
BMD72048 ARGENTINE
NEPTUNES & SKYVAN
Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune of
Escuadra Aeronaval No. 2 of
the Argentine Navy, 1959.
Lockheed SP-2H Neptune of
Escuadra Aeronaval No. 2 of
a bit daunted at painting this
colourful scheme. I need not have
worried as once you download
the instructions you will find
a set of masks that will make
this task a lot easier. Markings
are supplied for nine aircraft
and all the small differences
between the various airframes
are noted in great detail.
Boeing 737-700, N749SW, Serial
343, Southwest Airlines, 2001.
Boeing 737-700, Spirit of
Kittyhawk, N448WN, Serial 1409,
Southwest Airlines, 2010.
Boeing 737-800, Warrior 1, N8301J,
Serial 3952, Southwest Airlines, 2014.
Boeing 737-700, Spreading
the Luv, N238WN, Serial 1950,
Southwest Airlines, 2001.
Boeing 737-700, N773E, Serial
2129, Southwest Airlines.
Boeing 737-700, N201LV, The
Fred J Jones, Serial 1650,
Southwest Airlines, 2011.
the Argentine Navy, 1982.
Short Skyvan of the Prefectura
Naval Argentina based at
Pebble Islands in 1982.
CONCLUSION
Two very simple builds and one
a bit more complicated but due
to the Blackbird conversion
not a difficult one for most
modellers. And with the addition
of this decal sheet will give you
three models that will be a nice
addition to the model shelf.
I love Blackbird decals
because every time we get a
sample you never know what
obscure type or time period
you are going to be looking
at, and long may it continue.
Nose markings are supplied
for a further three aircraft
but with only nose profiles
on the instructions.
Boeing 737-700, 500th 737. N281WN,
Serial 2307, Southwest Airlines.
Boeing 737-700, Charle E
Taylor, N289CT, Serial 2354,
Southwest Airlines.
Boeing 737-700, 2000th N248WN,
Serial 2000, Southwest Airlines 2001.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
ASTROJETS
Retro schemes are now very
common with modern aircraft
painted in the colours carried by
airliners from decades before.
American Airlines started the
trend in 1999 when they decided
to paint a 737-800 in the scheme
carried by Americans first
707 flight 40 years earlier.
With slight modifications,
Our thank to Blackbird
Models for the review sample
which can be purchased
from their web site at www.
blackbirdmodels.co.uk
this aircraft N951AA carried
this scheme for over 18 years
before being repainted in 2017.
At the same time a newer
737 N905NN was repainted
in the Retro scheme and
continues to wear it today.
Boeing 737-700, N951AA,
Serial 708, 2000-2017.
Boeing 737-700, N905NN,
Serial 4210, 2017- to date.
CONCLUSION
If you like small scale airliners
you should visit the Fundekal
website as they have many
interesting schemes in the
Liveries Unlimited range for a
wide selection of types including
other aircraft including the
Il-62 and IL-76 as well as an
IL-28 Beagle used by Aeroflot
in 1/72 and 1/48 scale.
As always our thanks to
Fundekals for the review samples.
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 BOOK REVIEWS
Polish Wings 27
French Flying
Boats 1924-1939
I
t is always a pleasure to get a new
book in this interesting series, this
book is made all the more special
as it has been written by one of our
contributors, Marcin, who helps supply
our Polish News. Marcin has a particular
interest in Polish Naval Aviation, and that
AUTHOR:
Marcin
interest is very much reflected in this book.
Wawrzynkowski The book opens with a chapter giving the history
PUBLISHER: and background as to how Poland ended up buying
Stratus
its flying boats from France. The next chapter
ISBN:
looks at the colour and markings schemes for the
978-83-
65958-50-1 aircraft in Polish service. The final five chapters
FORMAT: cover each type operated. The whole book is
96pp Softback profusely illustrated with contemporary black and
white photos. In addition, the final five chapters are
also illustrated with colour profiles and plan views,
these as ever, are beautifully drawn and coloured
as we have come to expect from this publisher.
The book covers, what to many, may
seem obscure types such as the Latham
43 HB.3 or Schreck FBA 17 HMT.2, but a look
at the catalogue of model companies such
as Choroszy Modelbud, reveals that these
exotic types have been kitted in 1/72 scale.
So, if you are a fan of Polish Aviation,
flying boats, or just that something which
is a little different, then this book could
be just what you are looking for.
My thanks to Stratus for supplying
this copy for review.
TMU-S
Boulton Paul
Aircraft Since
1915
B
efore I begin this book review,
I have seen the question asked
online whether this book is just
a reprint of the older Putnam book by
the same author. Fonthill have clarified
AUTHOR: this with the statement that this book is a
Alec Brew
revised and updated version, which takes into
YEAR:
2020 account the authors continuing research into
PUBLISHER: the topic. So, it is not a straight reprint by any
Fonthill means and if the topic appeals and you have the
ISBN: original Putnam book you may wish to consider
978-83-
65958-50-1 adding this edition to your shelves too.
FORMAT: Being from East Anglia originally and now
404pp Hardback living in the West Midlands, its almost as if I
have followed Boulton Paul around the country!
This book offers the reader a comprehensive
history of the company from its founding in
Norwich in the late 18th century to c2013 when
the original Norwich and Wolverhampton
factories were closed after various company
takeovers. The book covers the company’s
36 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
diverse interests from building aircraft under
license, designing and building their own, their
gun turrets and latterly power units for Egyptian
MiG-21s and Su-7s, amongst other projects!
One of the Appendices lists the surviving
Boulton and Paul built airframes, two of which
are in museums which I have been wanting
to visit, so when the current restrictions
are lifted I will be popping down the road to
Tettenhall to the Transport Heritage Centre, to
see their Balliol and visiting my home county
to see the Felixstowe F2 flying boat nose at
the Norfolk and Suffolk Aircraft Museum.
All in all this book is a fantastic read
which I can highly recommended.
My thanks to Fonthill Media
Ltd for the review copy.
TMU-S
Nimrod Boys
True Tales from the Operators
of the RAF’s Cold War
Trailblazer
T
he Maritime Patrol role is generally
a niche area in modelling, reflected
in the number of kits available of the
various types used in this role (compared
with the more ‘glamourous’ types like
AUTHORS: fighters) and the number of models seen around
Tony Blackman
with Joe Kennedy the shows. Nevertheless, it has a following, to
YEAR: whom this book will undoubtedly be of interest.
2019 This book is complementary to the Author’s
PUBLISHER: work Nimrod Rise and Fall, which relates the
Grub Street
history of what was arguably the UK’s, indeed
ISBN:
978-1-911621- the World’s, best Maritime Patrol Aircraft
27-0 (MPA). In it, the authors present a cross-section
FORMAT: of stories from a selection of crew members,
254pp Hardback
including (notwithstanding the title) a “Nimrod
Girl”. The book covers the entire service of
the aircraft from flight testing to retirement;
and from Cold War operations to the Gulf War,
via such things as hunting drug smugglers.
Contributors include pilots and “rear crew”, the
operators. Whilst the main emphasis is on the
“Kipper Fleet”, there is a chapter devoted to the
R1 ELINT variant, giving an interesting insight into
what was until recently a highly secret world.
The well-written text is supported by a
good selection of photographs, both colour and
black-and-white. After the main text, a helpful
list of acronyms and an index are supplied.
This is not a book aimed primarily at the
modeller, and some would argue that it lacks
relevance. But if you have one of the available
kits from Airfix, Anigrand Craftswork, Welsh
Models or Formaplane in your stash, this book
should provide ample inspiration to dig it out and
start building; and it will certainly add to your
background knowledge of your subject, which is
surely an essential element of modelling anything.
Thanks to Grub Street for the review copy.
MJC
 LATEST NEWS
Images of War camouflage the type wore at the end of its life.

Air War Over All this is amply illustrated by a comprehensive

selection of photographs in black and

North Africa: white and in colour, then by a selection of

comprehensively captioned colour profiles.

FIRST LOOKS
USAAF Ascendant As usual with this series, the modeller is well
catered-for, in this case with reviews of what

A
s the title suggests, this volume seems to be every Lightning kit ever issued,
in the “Images of War” series from whether still available or not – reading it gave
Pen & Sword covers the US Air this reviewer not only useful information on the
Forces in North Africa. The author sets the various kits, but also (with particular reference
AUTHOR:
David Mitchelhill-
scene with a brief history of the build-up to war, to Airfix and Frog) a healthy dose of nostalgia!
Green focussing on US air power development. He then Illustrating this section is a view of each box
YEAR: goes on to describe the development of the US top, and a number of photos of some excellent

KIT REVIEWS
2019
intervention in North Africa, leading to Operation models by Fred Martin and Trevor Snowden.
PUBLISHER:
Torch, and culminating in the invasion of Sicily. Finally, there is a page of cockpit photos,
Pen & Sword
Aviation The chapters each focus on a particular subject followed by one of data tables giving
ISBN: area, namely “Fallen Eagles” (Axis aircraft, mostly details of production and conversions
978-1-47388- crashed, and installations); fighters; photographic by mark, and vital statistics.
179-2
reconnaissance; medium bombers; heavy bombers; Recommended for anyone,
FORMAT:
224pp Paperback and finally, airfields and personnel. As usual with particularly if your future modelling
this series, a chapter opens with a short text, and plans include a Lightning (or several).
consists mainly of a wide variety of photographs. Thanks to Pen & Sword Books

ACCESSORIES
There are shots of aeroplanes a-plenty, ranging Ltd for the review copy.
from long shots to close-up detail, and from MJC
serviceable aircraft to shot-down wrecks, and
also photos of installations, people, and other
relevant subjects. The pictures are all well- Modelers’ Guide to
reproduced, and comprehensively captioned.
The book is “topped and tailed” by
acknowledgments, a list of abbreviations,
Military
and a table of USAAF casualties in the Aircraft

DECALS
ETO, North Africa and the MTO.
This title will be a valuable addition to Insignia
your bookshelf; it will interest both the 1912-2016
historian, and the modeller. For the latter, in AUTHOR:

W
particular, many photos show useful detail, Jay Sherlock e have a book this month from
and many others will give ideas for weathering PUBLISHER: Aero Research. The book
Aero Research
or bases/dioramas. Recommended. Co. as the title suggests covers
Thanks to Pen & Sword Books CAT NO.: Military Aircraft Insignia from 1912-2016.
Ltd for the review copy. 9007A 227 countries are covered with 689 colour

BOOK REVIEWS
MJC ISBN: illustrations of their national markings.
978-0-
9851154-6-3 I have to say looking through the various
WEB: markings there are some countries I hadn’t
www.Aero heard of, others who I didn’t know have an
English Electric ResearchCDs.
com
air force and definitely a lot I would never

Lightning guess! Could you draw the national markings

of Manchuria (inspired by an archery target),
ny Brit of “a certain age” will digital

A
or the Seychelles? I know I couldn’t!
MEDIA
remember that a highlight of air If you are interested in aircraft markings
shows was when a Lightning fly-past and want a different scheme for your next
ended with a pull-up and an accelerating project there is certainly some obscure and
vertical climb, accompanied by a great colourful markings to choose from in this book.
deal of noise. There is no doubt that the This title is available in three formats, a
subject of this volume in the FlightCraft PDF on CD, an emailed PDF and as a printed
AUTHORS:
Martin Derry and
series, the EE (later BAC) Lightning – short on book, which has been printed on card
Neil Robinson range and armament though it was – holds a place stock for best print resolution and plastic
YEAR: in the affections of many British modellers. bound to lay flat on the workbench.
2016
The authors start by outlining the early For ordering details and to see the full
PUBLISHER:
development of the aircraft, then proceed to a catalogue visit www.AeroResearchCDs.
Pen & Sword
Aviation comprehensive mark-by-mark review of its further com . My thanks to Aero Research
ISBN: development and service history, which ends with for supplying this disc for review.
978-1-47389- the export versions. They then proceed to describe TMU-S
055-8
the various changes in colours and markings that
FORMAT:
96 pp Paperback took place over its life, from the days of plain
natural metal, via the era of colourful fins, to the

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 37

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1/32 F-4G PHANTOM ‘WILD WEASEL’

SAM KILLER
Jezz Coleman builds the 1/32
Revell F-4G ‘Wild Weasel’

KIT DETAILS KIT AND COCKPIT of the aircraft needed the same treatment.
ast year Revell brought out an updated There is a bulkhead that needs to be glued

L version of an earlier 1/32 F-4E kit from

F-4G PHANTOM ‘WILD
WEASEL’
MANUFACTURER: Revell
SCALE: 1/32
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded
plastic
KIT NUMBER: 04959
the mid-1990s, and this new kit added
some sprues for the ECM pods and
air-to-ground missiles. On opening the box,
you are presented with at least twelve nicely
moulded sprues, the tooling of which mostly
dates back to the late 1990s but is still very
crisp. The ‘G’ variant parts are included on two
additional sprues. I decided to build it straight-
from-the-box with just the addition of a set of
resin FOD covers to hide the unsightly intakes. I
decided to assemble the kit in separate stages,
for example I assembled and painted the seats
along with all the cockpit tub, and if any of you
have built one of these you will know that Revell
have moulded the instrument panels separately
with some really nicely details, that with some
careful painting will produce something very
eye-catching. Next up was to assemble the front
portion of the aircraft, and here the cockpit
tub needed to be glued into place and the two
halves of the nose sections glued together.
WINGS AND FUSELAGE
The underside also needed to be glued in
place along with the front wheel bay, and this
was clamped, taped and put to one side to
thoroughly dry. Meanwhile the rear portion
into place, and I didn’t attach the fan blades
as I was going to be adding FOD covers, these
would not be seen on the finished model. Both
of the rear fuselage halves were then glued
together and they were again clamped, taped
and left to dry. Once the glue had cured fully
on both fuselage sections, it was time attach
them to the lower portion of the wings, and
then the upper wing sections were also glued
in place. For a kit that dates back to the 1990s,
the build had been very unproblematic so far
and no filler was needed as yet. The intake
covers were attached at this point, as anyone
that has built a Phantom regardless of scale or
brand know that this is one of the pitfalls of the
aircraft. The outer wing fillets were then glued
together and added to the fusealge assembly,
and this was the only area that needed a small
amount of Vallejo putty, so I was happy that
was an easy fix. The rear stabilisers were left
off to make painting easier and these would
be fitted at the end of the build. The airframe
was then put to one side to fully dry, ready
for the mammoth task of sanding the seams
and re-scribing the panel lines. I now took the
opportunity to get the smaller parts like the
wheels, undercarriage, weapons and drop tanks
completed, and these were all glued together

40 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 SAM KILLER
TO MASK THE CANOPY,
I USED Q-M-T ‘QUICK MODEL
DETAIL’ PRE-CUT MASKS

A added a ‘marbling
coat’ to add depth to the
finished paint scheme…..

…this was also applied

to the fuel tanks

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 41

1/32 F-4G PHANTOM ‘WILD WEASEL’

and seams all cleaned-up. By this time the main

airframe had dried, and I then undertook the
job of repeating the sanding and re-scribing,
The first colour was a tedious job but well worth it in the long run.
Hataka Medium Green…. To mask the canopy, I used Q-M-T ‘Quick Model
Detail’ pre-cut masks, which not only allow you
to mask the canopy, but also mask the window
seal. Finally, the model was ready to go into
the paint shop, so the cockpit openings was
masked-off with some sponge and Tamiya tape.
Then the entire model and all separate sub-
assemblies were given a coat of Black Primer.

PAINTING
Then I applied a white ‘marble coat’, to which
I also added brown, blue and sand tones to
…followed by Hataka add depth to the overall look. The paints I
European Green….. chose to use for this build came from the
Hataka HTK-CS10 USAF European Camouflage
paint set. Firstly, I applied the Medium Green
roughly, and followed that with some post-
shading, using several lighter shades of the
same colour to add some subtle tones, and
to aid the weathering process later on. Then
I used Blue-Tac ‘sausages’ to give a soft edge
to the demarcation lines between the colours.
Next, I applied the European Green 1, and again
I repeated the post-shading method as before.
…and finally, Hataka The final colour was European Grey 1, using the
European Grey same method as previously mentioned. Once
fully left to dry for 24 hours, the finer details
on the airframe were masked and painted in
the appropriate colours. The exhausts and
rear metalwork were painted with Tamiya
Metallics, and some heat staining was also
added using highly thinned Tamiya Smoke.

42 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 SAM KILLER
The decals went on
without any fuss

DECALS AND WEATHERING

A layer of Hataka Gloss was applied prior to
the decaling, and the decals themselves went
on with ease. Another Gloss coat was then was
airbrushed-on to seal the decals in readiness
for a panel wash. Here I applied a bespoke
wash of artists oils thinned with White Spirits
removing any excess with a soft cloth. I then

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 43

1/32 F-4G PHANTOM ‘WILD WEASEL’

You get a good

selection of
weaponry

The finished look of

the undersides

added some pigments made from
oil pastels to weather the upper
surfaces. All that was left to do then
was to paint of the weapons, which
was very straightforward, and here
I chose both AGM-78, AGM-45 and
AIM-7 missiles. I then added all of the
smaller parts and once dry applied
a coat of Matt. All that was left to
do then was to remove the masking
tape from the canopy, which worked
a treat. Finally, after the canopy was
glued into place, the mammoth task
of building this beast was complete.

44 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 SAM KILLER
The Q-M-T masks worked splendidly

CONCLUSION
This is a terrific kit, and if you like
your models in a larger scale, then
this is definitely one to seek out!
Thanks to Revell for the build sample

The cockpit is very

well detailed

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 45

1/48 MITSUBISHI J2M RAIDEN
ALL RIGHT
JACK!
KIT DETAILS
BACKGROUND
he Mitsubishi J2M Raiden or ‘Lightning
T Bolt’ (Allied reporting name ‘Jack’) was
designed by Jiro Horikoshi, creator
of the A6M Zero, to meet a 14-Shi
official specification. It was to be a strictly
local-defence interceptor, intended to counter
the threat of high-altitude bomber raids, and
MITSUBISHI J2M thus relied on speed, climb performance, and
RAIDEN armament at the expense of manoeuvrability.
The J2M was a sleek, but stubby craft with its
MANUFACTURER: Tamiya
oversized Mitsubishi Kasei engine buried behind
SCALE: 1/48
a long cowling, cooled by an intake fan and
KIT TYPE: Plastic injection connected to the propeller with an extension
moulded
shaft. The first few produced J2M2s were
KIT NUMBER: 48021 delivered to the development units in December
1942, but severe problems were encountered
46 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
Derek Gibbs builds the
1/48 Tamiya Mitsubishi
J2M Raiden
with the engines. Trials and improvements
took almost a year and the first batch of the
serial built J2M2 Model 11 was delivered to
381st Kōkūtai in December 1943. Parallel with
the J2M2, production of the J2M3 Raiden Model
21 started, and the first J2M3s appeared in
October 1943 and deliveries to combat units
started at the beginning of February 1944.
The Raiden made its combat debut in June 1944
during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Several
J2Ms operated from Guam and Saipan and a
small number of aircraft were deployed to
the Philippines. Later, some J2Ms were based
in Chosen airfields, for defence of these areas
and fighting against Soviet Naval Aviation
units. Primarily designed to defend against
the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the type was

handicapped at high altitude by the lack of
a turbocharger. However, its four-cannon
armament supplied effective firepower
and the use of dive and zoom tactics
allowed it to score occasionally. J2Ms took
part in one of the final aerial combats
of the Second World War when four
Raiden’s, accompanied by eight Mitsubishi
A6M Zeros, all belonging to the 302nd
Kokutai, intercepted a formation of US
Navy F6F Hellcats from the aircraft-
carrier USS Yorktown during the morning
of 15 August 1945 over the Kanto Plain. In
the engagement, that took place only two
hours before Japan officially announced
its surrender, four Hellcats were lost
along with two Raiden’s and two Zeros.
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
ALL RIGHT JACK!
THE KIT
We all know if you have a Tamiya kit,
you are more or less guaranteed quality,
and this is exactly what you get with the
Mitsubishi J2 M3 Raiden. This is quite
a basic kit with only forty-five parts,
but with superb detail with some fine
raised and equally fine recessed panel
lines. So, as always, the cockpit comes
first and seven parts later it was done.
The seat has belts moulded on, so they
were removed, and a set of etched belts
were added. I know I should have painted
the cockpit area a blueish green, but I
used a bit of artistic licence and used
interior green instead. Then I painted
47
1/48 MITSUBISHI J2M RAIDEN
some of the instruments black which got
a bit of a dry brush with grey to show off
the detail, I then added the instrument
decal to the instrument panel and then
glued it to the right side of the cockpit and
both halves of the fuselage were glued
together and now you get to see how wide
this aircraft was with its spacious cockpit.
WINGS AND FUSELAGE
The wings come in three parts, so the two
upper pieces were glued to the one-piece
lower and then added to the fuselage along
48 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
with the tail planes. When the glue had dried
the seams were given a little clean up. The
fit at the wing root was very good with
only a slight bit of filler needed but where
the bottom wing joins the bottom of the
fuselage, a bit more work was needed for
a neater finish. Before any paint went on, I
masked up the cockpit opening and left off
the engine cowling so I could stuff a large
lump of Blu-Tac into the opening and then
added a length of sprue into it to give me
something to hold onto while painting. With
that done a coat of Halfords grey primer was
applied, the seams checked and made good.
CANOPY
Next on my list was the canopy, which is
the size of a small greenhouse, this was
masked up with Tamiya tape ready for
paint. Next on the list was the drop tank,
and I made that up and followed this by
removing all the rest of the parts from the
sprues for the undercarriage and propeller
assembly. I then cleaned any mould lines
and primed all the parts ready for painting.
PAINTING
I suspect most of us have seen images of
Japanese aircraft with their paint in various
states of wear, apparently due to not using
primer and poor-quality paint, but it gives us
modellers a bit of fun and a challenge trying
to replicate it. So, here’s my take on it. First,
I glued on the canopy, which was a sweet
fit. Then the entire model received a coat of
Vallejo Metal Colour Aluminium. When that

had dried, I added a coat of hairspray and
when that had dried, I sprayed the anti-glare
panel in front of the cockpit with a mix of
black and a bit of blue. Next the leading edges
of the wings were painted yellow mixed with
a dab of orange, and when dry they were
both masked off. Now onto the main colours.
The undersides, the drop tank and the
undercarriage doors were all sprayed with
Vallejo Sky Grey. Then for the green I used
Vallejo Reflective Green mixed with a bit of
J2MS TOOK PART IN ONE OF
THE FINAL AERIAL COMBATS OF
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Vallejo White. Now I know someone
will say it’s the wrong green, but it
looked good to me and I was happy
with it. Now I’ve found the longer you leave
Vallejo paint to dry you have more control
over how much paint comes off when you
start the chipping process. So, after about
a week I started gently picking away with a
toothpick in the panel lines and screw heads,
then I used a piece of well-worn 1500 grit wet
and dry to remove just enough paint to get
the effect I wanted. The trick is knowing when
to stop, just a subtly add the weathering,
nothing to heavy. The same was done to the
propeller assembly and the cowling, again
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
ALL RIGHT JACK!
nothing to heavy. Then I added a coat of
Alclad Klear Kote Gloss and left this to dry.
DECALS AND FINAL ASSEMBLY
The decals went on well with a little Micro-
Sol to help them conform into the panel lines,
and after a little weathering with a toothpick
they were given a Gloss Coat and when that
dry everything recieved final coat of Vallejo
Satin. The undercarriage parts were then
added, being careful of the angle they sat
at. The Blu-Tac plug was then removed, and
the propeller and cowling were attached,
followed by the drop tank. I used EZ-line for
the antenna wire and finally I removed the
masking tape from the canopy and there it
was, one J2 M3 Raiden. I’m pleased with it and
did I enjoy building it? Yep I’m alright Jack!
49
1/48 REGGIANE RE. 2005 SAGITTARIO

Marco Rondinelli
builds the 1/48
Sword Reggiane
Re. 2005 Sagittario

ITALIAN
STALLION he Reggiane Re.2005 was the final panel lines. The interior detail of the cockpit

KIT DETAILS
REGGIANE RE. 2005
SAGITTARIO
MANUFACTURER: Sword
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Short run with resin
KIT NUMBER: SW48010
T
evolution of the iconic Italian fighter
produced by the Officine Meccaniche
Reggiane, and equipped with the
German Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. It was
used briefly by the Regia Aeronautica, and after
the Armistice of Cassibile, by the Aeronautica
Nazionale Repubblicana and in a small way by
the Luftwaffe. This kit represents one of the
‘Serie 5’ fighters, which together with Macchi
M.C. 205 and the Fiat G.55, were the spearhead
of Italian Air Force during the Second World War.
THE KIT
The kit comes with two short-run plastic
sprues, one transparent sprue, resin exhausts
and decal sheet with the three subjects - one
of the Regia Aeronautica, one Aeronautica
Nazionale Repubblicana and one Luftwaffe. The
surface detail is very good, with finely engraved
is good, even if there are no raised details for
the instrument panels or decals, so it will be
necessary to paint everything by hand as I did,
or resort to an aftermarket set. In addition, I
scratch built the pilot seat belts, including the
typical chain closure of the lower part, plus an
oxygen tube and some other smaller details,
such as on the rudder pedal, to increase the
interior interest. Once everything was painted
in the typical anti-corrosion green as used for
the interiors of Italian aircraft during the Second
World War, I carried out some weathering
with washes and a light dry brushing.
FUSELAGE AND WINGS
Once the interior was complete, the two
fuselage halves were closed up, and since there
were no pins or guides, it was important to
continuously dry fit these parts before gluing. I

50 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 ITALIAN STALLION
FOR CAMOUFLAGE
COLOURS I USED THE
HATAKA ITALIAN WORLD
Painting the typical anti-corrosion
green as used for the interiors of Italian
WAR II AIRCRAFT SET
aircraft during the Second World War

used some clamps here, taking care to

align everything correctly. At this stage As there were no pins or guides, it
I used Ammo by MIG slow drying glue, was important to continuously dry
fit the fuselage parts before gluing
which was a great help. At this point
I also added the resin exhausts, and
before proceeding with the assembly
of the wings, I did some filling and
sanding on the fuselage. For the
wings themselves, you must first
assemble the internal details
for the landing gear, and again
plenty of dry fitting and checking is
recommended here. Once the internal
details of landing gear were complete,
I also painted these with the typical
interior green and then moved on
to assembling wings. Here again
I would recommend slow
drying glue, as the wings are
possibly more complicated
than the alignment of the

Building up the interior

of the wings

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 51

1/48 REGGIANE RE. 2005 SAGITTARIO
The wheel wells were also painted interior green
fuselage. Once the wings were complete,
they were fixed to the fuselage, and again
a little filling and sanding was required.
PAINTING
With the main assembly complete, I sprayed
on a coat of black primer, and sorted out
any issues this threw up. Then I added
another thin coat of primer ready for the
main colours. For this I used Hataka Italian
52 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
The upper surfaces
were sprayed Dark
Olive Green
World War II Aircraft Set and began with the
typical Light Blue Grey on the lower surfaces.
Once dry I sprayed Dark Olive Green on the
upper surfaces, adding a little lighter green
to the mix to achieve some modulation
on certain the areas of the fuselage and
wings. Then I painted the smaller
the details, such as the exhausts,
wheels and landing gear legs. I
then gave the entire model a coat of
Hataka Gloss, ready for the decals.
I added streaking and
staining to the undersides
 ITALIAN STALLION
DECALS AND FINISHING
The subject I chose was ‘4 Rosso’ from
the Reparto Aereo di Collegamento of
the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.,
and here I would like to thank Gabriele
Luciani, who helped me with the historical
aspect of the subject in hand. Once the
decals were dry and sealed with a further
Gloss coat, I started weathering using
two different shades of AK Interactive
washes, one for the lower surfaces,
including the landing gear, and the other
for the upper surfaces. In addition, I added

The decals were applied

over a gloss coat

some chipping at the points of greatest

wear, and I also laid down some smoke
and exhaust effects around the gun ports
and exhaust pipes. Then I applied a coat
of Hataka Matt and set about adding the
smaller details, such as the wing lights,
the armament, the antenna (together with
its cable) and finally the canopy, which, I
decided to leave in the open position. All
in all this was an enjoyable project!

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 53

1/32 TORNADO GR.1
TONKA-TASTIC!
THE KIT
aving previously built five of
H Revell’s 1/48 GR.4’s the Editor asked
if I’d like to try my hand at their
1/32 GR1. Obviously, I said yes as,
unbelievably, this would be my first attempt
at a large jet! The kit is much older than its
smaller brother, but the parts looked fine,
although now showing signs of age with
some panel lines on the underside of the
fuselage absent. From the off, I decided to
build this as ZA405 ‘Foxy’, a GR.4A from 12(B)
Squadron depicting their 100th Anniversary
scheme, whilst based at RAF Lossiemouth,
Scotland in November 2015. She was flown
by Flt Lt S A Jenkins and Wg Cdr NS Thomas.
The Squadron adopted the foxes head as its
badge as they were the only Squadron to
operate the Fairey Fox in 1926. This aircraft
also carried a panel listing the unit’s battle
honours along with the names of Flight
Officer Garland VC, Sergeant Gray VC and
LAC Reynolds on the opposite side of the
canopy. These men were lost in action
whilst flying a Fairey Battle in the attack on
Velwezelt Bridge on the Maas in Belgium in
54 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
Keith Slatter converts the
1/32 Revell Tornado GR.1 to
a No.12(B) Squadron GR.4A
May 1940. These were the first VC’s of World parts. Never mind, the practice helps!! So,
War II, however, LAC Reynolds, who was the some scratch building on the antenna under
aircrafts gunner, received no commendation!!
COCKPIT AND FUSELAGE
Attention is recommended to any
photographic reference materials you can
the rear of the aircraft was also required.
find, as the Tornado GR.4 and 4A’s had various
different antennae arrays. The only other
additions to the build were Aires resin seats
and exhausts, a Master Metal pitot tube
and an Ozmods ASRAAM. The RAIDS pod
was fabricated from the kit’s sidewinder. As
usual, I started with the cockpit area. I used
the kit decals for the instrument panels but
cut them into easily usable pieces to ensure
perfect alignment. The cockpit and front
wheel bay then fitted nicely into the fuselage
housing with no filler required. The assembly
of the rest of the main airframe was trouble
free, however, I did add a copious amount of
weight in the nose to ensure this baby was
not going to be a ‘tail sitter’. I scratch built
the FLIR and IRLS pods and di-electric panels
needed to represent a GR.4A, only for them to
later become available as resin aftermarket

PAINTING
Once I was happy with the completed
airframe, I attached the front screen
and temporarily fitted the canopy after
I had masked both up with Tamiya
tape. I also left the resin exhausts
off as I wanted to use various Alclad
shades on them and it saved all the
masking. The painting was going to
be my first attempt with black basing.
So, first I gave the tail and spine a
few extra coats of black as a good
base for the white and green and it
worked beautifully. Also, the Hataka
Willow Green was an exact match
too - result! I can only say these paints
are tremendous, they all went down a
dream with no loss of detail and gave
a very tough finish. I would advise
anyone to give them a go, you’ll not
TONKA-TASTIC!
Models for Heroes
odels for Heroes is the first
M charitable organisation that
provide the UK’s Armed Forces
and Emergency Service Personnel
with model kits, tools and resources. Since 2017,
modelling sessions and groups have sprouted
from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and
to the tip of Cornwall. Models for Heroes work
closely with larger organisations like the NHS,
The Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and
Combat Stress to enable a quality model making
hobby. In fact, over 500 hours of volunteer led
activity has been provided. Since the First World
War, model making and building has been used
as a curative activity for soldiers returning
from Battle, and it is safe to safe to say that
despite advances in technology - the hobby has
remained essentially the same. When learning
to overcome fine motor control, either as a
result of a combat injury, arthritis or symptoms
of medication, guidance and enthusiasm from
a patient mentor is key. Models for Heroes co-
KIT DETAILS
ordinate 120 keen volunteers around the UK. All
dedicated to encouraging their beneficiaries
to adapt to their difficulties using tools and
techniques available to complete these
tricky tasks. Indeed, at the Defence National
Rehabilitation Centre in Leicestershire they use
Models for Heroes to provide model making
as rehabilitative activity for neurological
complaints. The intense focus required for
some of the smaller parts can be therapeutic
to some. Frustration felt while attempting to
TORNADO GR.1 command microscopic parts to adhere together
will be replaced with satisfaction and pride
MANUFACTURER: Revell
when presenting a finished model on a shelf
SCALE: 1/32 for all to see. Research into a vehicles livery
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded or history can beget new hobbies and avenues
plastic of interest. More crucially in a holistic sense,
KIT NUMBER: 03892 modelling sessions bring people together,
to talk, share experiences and laugh. Peer
support, as your GP will attest is an essential
tool to combatting and alleviating the onset of
depression and anxiety. Models for Heroes is
an entirely voluntary organisation, driven by
generous donations from the global public. As
recognition for the work done by Models for
Heroes, and to support the cause, the Tornado
GR.4A from Keith Slatter will be auctioned off on
eBay to raise funds for the organisation. To find
out how you can help, head to modelsforheroes.
co.uk follow on twitter: @modelsforheroes or
Instagram @models_for_heroes, or search for
Models for Heroes on Facebook. You can email
also them on enquiries@modelsforheroes.co.uk
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 55
1/32 TORNADO GR.1

regret it. After everything was given a gloss

coat, I put the aircraft to one side for a few
days. At this point I turned to the assembly of
the ordnance and undercarriage which were
painted, decalled and weathered ready to be
fitted at the penultimate stage of the build.
Also, to stop me knocking something off.

DECALS AND FINISHING

The next job was to start the decals. These
went on beautifully and needed very little
decal solution to help them settle which was
a relief as the Fox heads are rather large,
and a big thank you must go to Ray Horswell
at Fantasy Print works for providing their
Eurodecal sets ED-32117and ED-32118. Another
gloss coat and another couple of days put
to one side and it was onto the messy bit…
weathering. I used Ammo by MIG Oilbrusher
Spaceship Filth over the whole aircraft, and

56 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


I must say these are too good to be true.
Almost immediately I wiped this off in the
direction of air flow with a few cotton buds
and then used paper towel to remove the rest.
Areas of heavier weathering and staining were
done with a bit more care. This was all left to
dry for a few days before further handling. I
don’t use any further clear coats as I find I get
the perfect sheen from the slight polishing
the paper towel gives. The next tasks were
I SCRATCH BUILT THE FLIR
AND IRLS PODS NEEDED
TO REPRESENT A GR.4A
to attach all the ordnance, undercarriage
etc and my pet hate, painting the seats
before installation. I finished the canopy
with mirrors and a bit of detailed painting
before attaching in the closed position. Unlike
the 1/48 Tornado’s, this does not come with
any canopy fittings and I was running out
of mojo towards the end. Finally, once I was
completely happy, I attached all the little bits
such as the lights, antennae and pitot tube.
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
TONKA-TASTIC!
CONCLUSION
I must say, for an old kit the potential
to produce a stunning representation
of the Tornado in 1/32 scale is amazing.
It’s a pity Revell don’t give the old girl
a face lift, as it has certainly cured my
hesitation to build another large jet. A
big shout out has to go to Jezz Coleman
and the Editor for having the confidence
in me and also talking me into it!
57
1/48 F-104G STARFIGHTER
Barry Koervers builds
the 1/48 Kinetic F-104G
DUTCH
MASTER ere we have the excellent 1/48 F-104G
H Starfighter from Kinetic, which I
am building in the markings of my
home country. As usual, the build
starts with the cockpit, specifically building up
the ejection seat. Kinetic offer two seats in the
kit, both of which differ from each other. The
seat is made of from several parts all of which
came together very nicely. Next up, I started to
piece together the cockpit, which like the seat
required little effort. I painted both the seat and
the cockpit Matt Black as an undercoat before
detailing it up with the various shades of grey,
green and khaki. I then picked out the details
58 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
of the cockpit with thinned flat white, red and
KIT DETAILS
yellow. The kit comes with a tiny sheet of etch,
mainly for the seatbelts, which I painted up and
attached to the seat with a little CA glue. The
last thing I did was drop a tiny amount of PVA
glue over some of the instrument panels to give
the glass effect. The kit supplied engine is very F-104G STARFIGHTER
well detailed, and is made up from three parts,
MANUFACTURER: Kinetic
the blades, the afterburner ring and finally the
nozzle. Once removed from the sprue, I sprayed SCALE: 1:48
all the parts with thinned down Tamiya Gloss KIT TYPE: Plastic injection
Black. Next, I sprayed all of the engine parts with moulded
AK Interactive Aluminium, which I left to dry for KIT Number: 48083
a few hours before giving it all a wash of my

I USED A SET OF
MARKINGS FROM
DUTCH DECALS
own mix of Abteilung oils for a weathered
look. While the oil wash was left to dry, I
masked up the alternating vanes on the
nozzle so I could go in with Dark Aluminium
to show a bit of colour variance and make it
look more interesting. This was then given
an oil wash and any excess was removed
with a cotton bud dabbed with oil thinner
and then all were cemented together.
The front and rear undercarriage bays
were all painted at the same time as the
engine as the colours were the same. Since I
use a separate airbrush for metallic paints,
I like to do this all at the same time rather
than go back and forward. Both sections
DUTCH MASTER
were primed and painted the same way as builds, so safer this way. The kit does come
the engines and left to dry overnight. Once with two different versions of wheel hubs
dry, I used several of the MiG Oilbrushers for early and late marks, so I checked my
and Streaking Brushes to make the wells reference and the specific markings I was
a little oily and dirty. I do like how easy using calls for an early model, so I went
these brushes are to use and the effects with them. That was it for the metallics, so
are nice and subtle, I think. At this stage I
was unsure whether I was going to have the
speed brakes open or closed so I painted
them up with metallic Aluminium and
weathered them slightly. The landing gear
legs were all painted whilst left on the
sprue as I planned to add them to the
build much later on. I tend to snap
off dangly things through
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 59
1/48 F-104G STARFIGHTER
everything was left overnight to fully dry
and cure. Next up, I strayed away from the
instructions and decided to get the four fuel
tanks and two sidewinder missiles built and
painted. The fuel tanks were a much more
straightforward affair with them simply
being two halves cemented together and for
the wingtip tanks the rear fins slotted into
place. I painted this up with the Olive Yellow
colour from the top camouflage scheme and
the light grey from the underside. These were
then glossed over with a couple of thin coats
of the Windsor and Newton Gloss Varnish.
With all of the main interior elements now
painted and dry, the build progressed with
the assembly of the main components such
as the wings, tail, nose and fuselage halves.
Before I cemented the cockpit into place, I
gave it the once over with some drybrushing
using Vallejo Metal Duraluminum to
60 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
give a metallic effect. The first part was
to cement into place the cockpit, the
undercarriage bays and the engine.
Once the interior elements were all in
the two fuselage halves were cemented
together. Like the rest of the earlier build,
they fitted together perfectly with very
little effort required. The trickiest part was
putting the long piece on the underside
that ran from the main wheel bay to the
front of the cockpit. This was not a perfect
fit and did require a little more in the way
of manoeuvring into place. I also needed to
use some filler as there was quite a large
gap on one of the corners. The wings were a
simple case of two halves going together, but
unlike previous builds of late, I did remember
to drill the little holes for the pylons that
I attached at the same time. It was at this
point I decided that I would close up the
airbrakes rather than leave them open, so
the doors were cemented into place. All the
main airframe sections were now glued into
place and left to set overnight. Once the
airframe had fully dried it was time to mask
up the wheel bays with Tamiya tape and a
little bit of sponge for the front wheel. I also
masked the engine nozzle up as that was
all nicely finished and in place. The cockpit
was also covered up with tape. I then added
a 50:50 mix of Self Levelling Thinners with
Mr. Surfacer 1000 Black. I went with Black as
the preferred colour of primer as I do like to
use the marbling effect for the topcoats. For
 DUTCH MASTER
me, it also makes pre-shading a little easier, through. I allowed the Basalt Grey to dry for
especially because the top colours had a bit around half an hour before removing the
of variation. The primer coat was allowed mask to see how it turned out. Thankfully,
to dry for a day or so to fully cure to allow all was well, and it was spot on. Next up was
a great finish for the topcoats. I sprayed the Olive Yellow so I masked over all of the
a very light coat of MRP 038 Light Grey in Basalt Grey. Like before I did a thorough job
small, random figure of eight patterns over to ensure there was no overspray, a couple
the entire airframe. I then went with MRP of thin coats was sprayed to keep the detail
039 Grey in the same fashion but covering showing. The Olive Yellow was allowed to
the parts where the light grey was missed. dry for half an hour before I unmasked to
This with the black undercoat gives that nice, see the finished result, which looked great. It
random marbling effect, which is actually was at this point that I attached the wingtip
part of the weathering process, before any fuel tanks to complete the airframe build.
actual weathering techniques are used. For Other than the pre-shading and marbling
the pre-shading I used MRP 040 Dark Grey effect, there was not much detailing required
to go over all of the panel lines and access to the airframe. The two parts that stood
hatches. For painting I always start with the out were the nose cone, which was a lighter
lighter colour and progress to the darkest shade of grey than the underside and that
colour. For this aircraft, the lighter colour had a green anti-glare panel. So here I
is actually the underside which has a very
sharp border line, so it was out with the
masking tape. I sprayed a couple of light
coats of MRP 038 Light Grey all over until
just the right amount of shading showed
through. This was then left to dry properly
overnight. For the upper fuselage splinter
scheme of MRP 208 Olive Yellow and MRP
209 Basalt Grey. I then carefully masked up
the areas for the Basalt Grey colour, which
did take a bit of time to get it done properly,
and once the masking was complete it was
time for a couple of thin coats of paint, again,
just enough to let the effect below show

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 61

1/48 F-104G STARFIGHTER

masked the nose up and used a custom mix of MRP

004 White (30%) and MRP 038 Light Grey (70%).
This was then left to dry after which I masked up the
area for the anti-glare panel which was sprayed MRP
078 NATO Green. The other section that required a
little more detail was the yellow hatch behind the
cockpit. The colour callout just referenced yellow,
so I decided on MRP 051 RLM04. Now that all the
main elements were painted, I sprayed the entire
model with a couple of light coats of MRP Super
Clear Gloss to seal in all the paint and offer some
protection before the decals went down. As I said
earlier, I decided before I started this build that I
was going to do a Dutch version and went for a set
from Dutch Decals which contained enough decals
to do several F-104G’s, and these settled down
well over the details. The decals were then sealed
in place with a couple of coats of MRP Super Clear
gloss and allowed to settle for a couple of days.
As most of the weathering was done using paint
during the camouflage stage and I didn’t want to
go for a really beat up looking bird,
I decided that I would apply
a Flory Dark Dirt Wash
over the gloss coat which
would fill in the panel
lines and give a slightly dirty look. I did use a little oil paint on the
underside to give a little bit more definition as
that would have been a bit dirtier in real life.
Once the wash had been removed, I applied a
couple of coats of Windsor and Newton Matt Varnish.
Now I fitted the landing gear, wheels, canopy
and pitot tube in place. The last things to be added
were the Sidewinder missiles and the under-
wing fuel tanks and the build was complete.

62 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL


THE LOCKHEED F-104
STARFIGHTER
A COMPREH ENSIVE GUIDE
by Andy Evans
he missile shaped Lockheed Modellers Datafile • 36
T F-104 Starfighter was a single-
engine, high-performance,
supersonic interceptor originally developed
THE LOCKHEED F-104
STARFIGHTER
for the US Air Force by Lockheed as one of
the Century Series of aircraft. It was also
operated by the air forces of more than a
dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. The F-104
served with the USAF from 1958 until 1969
and continued with Air National Guard units
until 1975. The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) flew a small mixed fleet
of F-104 types in supersonic flight tests and
spaceflight programs until 1994. USAF F-104Cs
saw service during the Vietnam War, and F-104A
aircraft were deployed by Pakistan briefly during
the Indo-Pakistani wars. Republic of China Air
M DF
Force (Taiwan) F-104s also engaged the People’s
STARFIGHTER
Liberation Army Air Force (China) over the
Cover for illustrative purposes only
disputed island of Quemoy. The operational
service of the Starfighter ended with its retirement by the Italian Air
Force in May 2004. A total of 2,578 Starfighters were
eventually produced, mostly by NATO members.
A set of modifications produced the F-104G model,
which won a NATO competition for a new fighter-bomber. Several two-
seat trainer versions were also produced, the most numerous being the
TF-104G. The ultimate production version of the basic fighter model F-104
was the F-104S all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian
Air Force and equipped with radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.
Clarence ‘Kelly’ Johnson, the chief engineer at Lockheed’s Skunk Works,
visited Korea in December 1951 and spoke with fighter pilots about
what sort of aircraft they wanted. At the time, the pilots were confronting
the MiG-15 with North American F-86 Sabres, and many of the American
pilots felt that the MiGs were superior to the larger and more complex
American design. The pilots requested a small and simple aircraft with
excellent performance, and armed with this new-found information,
Johnson immediately started the design of such an aircraft, following
his return to the United States. In March, his team was assembled; they
M DF
36
ORDER HOTLINE: 44 (0)1234 331431
STARFIGHTER ORDER ONLINE: www.modelaircraftmag.com
PRE ING S
COM
-OR OO
DER N
MDF 36
studied several aircraftSTARFIGHTER
designs, ranging
from small designs
at 8,000lb, to fairly
A C O MP R E H E N S I V E G U I D E
£24.99
+ P&P
by Andy Evans
large ones at 50,000lb.
In order to achieve the desired
performance, Lockheed chose a minimalist approach
- a design that would achieve high performance by
wrapping the lightest, most aerodynamically efficient
airframe possible around a single powerful engine.
The engine chosen was the new General Electric J79,
an engine of dramatically improved performance
compared to contemporary designs. Lockheed was
granted a development contract in March 1953 for
two prototypes, these were given the designation XF-
104. Work progressed quickly, with a mock-up ready
for inspection at the end of April, and work
36
starting on two prototypes late in May,
and in November 1955 the prototype
was accepted by the USAF. Based on the XF-104 testing and evaluations, the
next variant, the YF-104A, was lengthened and fitted with a General Electric
J79 engine, modified landing gear and modified air intakes. The first YF-104A
flew on 17 February 1956 and other trials aircraft were soon carrying out
and equipment evaluation and tests. Modifications were made to the aircraft
including airframe strengthening and a ventral fin was added. Problems
were encountered with the J79 afterburner and delays were caused by
the need to add Sidewinder missiles, but by January 1958 the first USAF
operational squadron was formed, and the Starfighter began its journey into
aviation history! This latest volume in the ever popular Datafile series guides
you through the variants and users of the Starfighter and will be a valuable
resource for modellers and enthusiasts alike and features builds of the recent
Kinetic Starfighter kits.
1/144 BOEING C-97G
DOUBLE-
BUBBLE!
f you are at least a certain age, you are
I likely to be lucky enough to have seen
a Boeing KC-97 tanker at UK military air
shows. Many of these were Air National
Guard machines detached from the States to
USAFE for TDYs to Rhein-Main AB, Frankfurt.
The aircraft was developed from the double-
bubble C-97 Stratofreighter, before that the
Stratocruiser airliner and before that again
the B-29 Superfortress. Stratofreighter is
also the correct title for the KC-97, because
the Stratotanker is of course the KC-135.
THE KIT
For this build I am using Minicraft’s 1/144 kit
of the KC-97G #14441. I would have preferred
Academy’s 1/72 kit, my favourite scale, but
64 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
Stephen J Di Nucci builds an Air
National Guard Boeing C-97G using
the Minicraft 1/144 KC-97G with
photography by Phil Jones
at the time I was put off by the price and the
size of the beast! Interestingly, the Minicraft
kit is currently available but only as a KC-97L,
with new radomes and underwing turbojets,
kit no 14699. If you fancy the L, Blackbird
Models have an update set for a KC-97L,
and Caracal have an excellent decal sheet,
CD144013, covering mostly KC-97Ls, but
also a couple of Gs and a couple of C-97As. I
actually modelled a cargo C-97G. My KC-97G
kit was a relatively simple affair made up
of fifty-four parts in light grey styrene, but
also a nose transparency and a ‘boomers’
tail transparency - the small fuselage side
windows are covered by the decal sheet,
fully acceptable in this scale. The surface
detail is executed in recessed lining, but on

THE KIT OFFERS NO COCKPIT
DETAIL, BUT I THOUGHT THAT IN
VIEW OF THE GOLDFISH BOWL NOSE,
SOMETHING WOULD NEED TO BE DONE
the fin/rudder, tail planes and wings the
appearance of the lining is rather unfortunate,
resembling a quilt! It was obvious that this
effect would have to be reduced by sanding.
The kit offers no cockpit detail, but I
thought that in view of the goldfish bowl nose,
something would need to be done. I should
mention here though, that Caracal have a
one-piece black decal set for the cockpit
KIT DETAILS
windows. First up was a floor, and this was
easy, building layers of styrene card on top
of one side of the nosewheel box until the
correct level was reached. Incidentally, there’s
an oddity inside the box on one side, where a
screen of plastic prevents a proper positioning
for the nosewheel gear - a few seconds spent
on removal pays off. Not being an experienced
1/144th scale modeller, I didn’t have much in
BOEING KC-97G my ‘spares-box’ to fit out my cockpit, but I did
have a couple of seats from a very ancient
MANUFACTURER: Minicraft
Caravelle airliner. These were moulded as a
SCALE: 1/144 side-by-side pair, so I took a razor saw to them
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded and reshaped the white napkin headrests! A
plastic repaint completed the job. With the pilot and
KIT NUMBER: 014708 co-pilot equipped, I also built a simple floor-
to-ceiling workstation for the flight engineer,
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
DOUBLE-BUBBLE!
a little to the rear on the right-hand side,
together with a table and chair, plus a chair on
the left for the navigator. I painted some decal
film off-black and used it for the engineer’s
boards, floor console and main panel. I painted
the rest of the internals a generic light grey.
THE FUSELAGE
Before joining the fuselage, I noticed that the
match between the two halves wasn’t great
underneath, so I lopped off several location
pips. I also rubbed down the quilting effect on
the fin/rudder. The nosewheel leg, in fact all
three units, are finely moulded, certainly one
of the best parts of the kit, but hugely fragile,
and I could see that if fitted now they wouldn’t
survive the rest of the build. In fact, I could
visualise the model ending up as a wheels-
up desk display with only slight provocation!
Anyway, I checked out the fit and set it aside
for later. Minicraft’s guide sheet recommends
a nose weight, so I added plenty! The fuselage
now went together fairly sweetly, and as
soon as dry I could do some seam filling and
rubbing down. My cockpit floor meant I had
to remove the location rib running all around
the base of the cockpit transparency. The
Internet has accounts of difficulty with fitting
the transparency, but it looks like my removal
of the rib assisted things greatly; however, I
still had to level off the step where it met the
fuselage, not an easy task with the windows
so close by. A detail that is not included in
65
1/144 BOEING C-97G
MOST MILITARY
STRATOFREIGHTERS
WERE FINISHED
PREDOMINATELY IN
NATURAL METAL
the Minicraft kit is the partial transparency
in the extreme tail. I made one by cutting
out the area and then letting in a lump of
clear sprue. I shaped and polished it once
thoroughly dry, finishing with a couple of
coats of Johnson’s ‘Klear’ to restore the
clarity. Some versions of the C-97, perhaps
earlier examples, had this painted over,
others had a ‘functioning’ transparency.
THE WINGS AND ENGINES
The underside of the wings had the worst
of the quilting effect, but I sanded top and
bottom of both wings - didn’t take long.
Once the wing halves were joined, I could
neaten up the trailing edges, which were a
little uneven, especially near the tips of the
nacelles. The halves of the lower engine
nacelles went together reasonably, but they
had hefty joining pins. The outer engine
nacelles were of no matter, but with the open
undercarriage areas for the inners, these
were best removed. The fit of the nacelles
to the wings was poor, so I improved things
by cutting off the location tabs from the
nacelles and filling the holes in the wings. I
now compared the cowlings to the nacelles
- oh dear! The fronts of the nacelles were
too narrow. Although already assembled, it
was easy to widen them by splicing in some
spacers, a couple requiring well over 1-mm, a
lot in this scale. I also used a thin shim of card
at the back of each lower cowling, although
filling would probably have sufficed. A lot
of filling and fettling followed. There are
collapses in the shapes of the triple-section
air intakes underneath each cowling - the
66 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
only sensible way forward seemed to be deck transparency (it’s important to fit the
flattening off the front faces of the intakes, main transparency only after the model
using sanding blocks, and finish off with has fully dried, otherwise condensation
parked-up blanking plates. An advantage can remain visible and trapped forever).
here is the chance to correct the faces, which Time now for some masking, chiefly the
do not have enough slope. It is essential to cockpit glazing, which was no fun and no
complete all the assembly, filling and rubbing assistance from the aftermarket either;
down before the wings are attached to the however, I could of course have used
fuselage. It was tricky and took hours. Caracal’s black decal cockpit windows,
There’s no doubt that the wings and and eventually I wished I had done so.
cowlings are easily the most troublesome Last up for attention were the propellers.
parts of the kit. Plus, there is no engine Unfortunately, they aren’t very convincing,
detail. I was left wondering whether so I carried out a couple of mods. Firstly, the
Minicraft’s current kit might since have been props are not shovel-bladed as Minicraft
re-engineered - apparently not. The only
positive aspect is the interlocking tongues
hidden within the fuselage which ensure
equal dihedral for both wings plus correct
alignment with the fin. But even here the
trailing edges needed thinning to ensure a
proper fit, fully into the wing root recesses.
The wing roots need filling; another very
difficult task, given the bulge of the upper
lobe of the fuselage masking access,
requiring the use of fine oval and round-
section needle files and a thin rolled tube
of abrasive paper. None of the refuelling
gear was appropriate to a C-97G freighter,
of course, and I also didn’t use Minicraft’s
wing tanks as I couldn’t find many images
of aircraft with these fitted. I always think
that a nice set of antenna wires can do a lot
for an effective model, so this was the right
time to drill a few holes. With the wings
and now the tail planes and nose radome
fitted, and all joints filled and rubbed down, I
could wash the model and then fit the flight

would have us believe, afflicted with a
continuous flare out towards the tips,
whereas in reality they pinch inwards a
little from about the mid-point outwards.
Tedious but easy enough to correct.
Secondly, the centre boss of each prop is
too short by half, and slightly too narrow.
I razor-sawed the Minicraft bosses away,
and replaced with styrene rod, rounded
off at the nose. The props need careful
painting, with both black and metal
sections to each blade, with yellow tips.
FINISHING AND DECALS
Most military Stratofreighters were finished
predominately in natural metal, but there
were often specific panels finished in grey,
for example the rudder, part of the fin, the
rear belly section and parts of the engine
nacelles, however, there appears to have
been little standardisation. An authoritative
source records that the grey was either
FS16473 ADC Grey, or the lighter FS16515,
or sometimes both. I used ADC grey, overall
as an undercoat, choosing Xtracolor X138
(FS16515 is also available in the Xtracolor
range as X150). I wanted to finish the rudder
in the second grey, but I didn’t have X150 in
my paints stash, so I again used X138, but
now lightened with gloss white. I frequently
use a gloss grey as an undercoat for a metal
DOUBLE-BUBBLE!
finish but note that gloss paint will not
enable you to easily rub down any late flaws
that might get revealed. After masking off
the panels selected to remain grey, I next
airbrushed Xtracolor X502 Natural Steel.
I decided to pick out several panels in a
different tone, so I masked and used X502
again, but this time with a surprising amount
of gloss black added. Minicraft recommend
aluminium for the wheel wells, and this
seems to be at
least partially
borne out on
the Internet.
However, I have
colour prints
suggesting dark
green, so I went
with the green. I
had expected black
de-icing boots on the
wing leading edges, etc, but was surprised
to find that 97s didn’t use them - bit of a
plus of course, requiring much less work.
The decals in the box were by Scale
Master, the only option being a regular USAF
KC-97G in Strategic Air Command service. The
decals looked good, but some issues were
revealed, such as the the stars n bars were
not in the correct register, and some took
too long to release in water. I had anyway
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 67
1/144 BOEING C-97G
fancied an ANG scheme and ANG titles
are now an easy alternative with Caracal’s
sheet. There’s only one KC-97G though,
another SAC machine, so I checked through
my references and found a C-97G freighter
0-20924 with the 197th Air Transport
Squadron, Arizona Air Guard in metal finish.
A potential problem with any alternative
ANG machine is the yellow last-four-number
lozenge that many carried at the tip of the
nose, but I could see that I would be able to
make up “0924” for the model by combining
together numbers from Caracal’s sheet. The
sheet also furnished me with the rest of the
markings. This was the first time I had used
Caracal decals, but they applied really well,
and it will decidedly not be the last time;
Minicraft’s own decals applied nicely too.
Oddly, the four lower fuselage windows are
indicated on Minicraft’s markings drawing,
but they are not on the decal sheet.
An error that I noticed, but only at the
decal stage, was when applying Caracal’s
decal S1, which looks to be an emergency
tunnel exit, low down on the right side of the
forward fuselage. Minicraft configured their
kit as a civil freighter, and in this area, they
have configured a cargo hatch, not suitable
for most military C-97s. So, at this late stage
I was now faced with filling panel lines.
Rubbing down afterwards went well, in spite
of the gloss finish, but an attempted repaint
confirmed all the usual problems with
applying aluminium by hand, so I resorted
68 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
to some aluminium trim film by Microscale.
Finally, I needed to replace Caracal’s by
now trashed S1, so I was fortunate that
they included a further similar decal, S2,
albeit printed the wrong way around. So,
I reversed this back to the right side, and
used this as a basis for my correction. Many
C-97s sported wing walkway areas marked
out by thin black lines, but one seemingly
authoritative artwork fails to represent
them. There aren’t many images of the
aircraft taken from above, not even on-line,
so it’s hard to know just how prevalent they
were, but I decided to have walkways on my
own model. There are happily several long
lengths of black cheat lines on Caracal’s
sheet, so I decided to use these, and found
that there were just enough for the job.
FINAL ASSEMBLY
The undercarriage was already painted, so
it was now time to add the main units to
the model. I had no real idea what might be
now revealed; no idea as to the accuracy of
Minicraft’s interlocking wing tabs and no
idea as to my own assembly skills. I was,
however, pleasantly surprised to find that
the wing tips were almost exactly equal, left
side and right side. Fixing the nose gear was
difficult, given the restricted access. The
nose gear in 1:1 scale is much more complex
than Minicraft would have us believe, for
example there should be a number of
connections between the gear and the door,
I added a couple, but overall, they’ve done
a reasonable job. With the locating lug
removed, the nose gear door was too long; I
removed over 1mm, but I should have gone
further. Finally, were the antenna posts and
wires, the latter made from heat-stretched
transparent sprue, and then the propellers.
CONCLUSION
I had planned to say that this kit is unable
to repay the toil and effort that it requires,
and certainly my initial impressions were,
in the box, well, it looks like a toy. But
having finished the beast, perhaps I’m
wrong, and perhaps it is possible to make
something half-decent from it. However,
anyone wishing to make a serious model
out of the Minicraft kit should consider
getting a copy of the previously mentioned
Blackbird Models KC-97L resin set; even
if you intend only the tanker variant, as it
contains replacement piston engines and
intakes, and props. These will brighten
things up considerably, whichever version
of the Stratofreighter you build.
 One-stop shopping for modellers
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1/72 BAE SYSTEMS HAWK 100 SERIES
PAINT IT
BLACK
Regis Marteau builds the
1/72 Airfix BAe Hawk T2 in
the markings of No.IV(R)
Squadron
he design of the BAe Hawk jet trainer
T
KIT DETAILS
dates back to the 1970s and the type
has seen service with a number of air
forces around the world, including
of course the RAF. One of the most recent
versions is the T2 or Mk.128, with a modified
airframe, new wings, an extended nose for
additional avionics and a glass cockpit to
represent current front-line aircraft. This
very elegant aircraft is one of my favourites
BAE SYSTEMS HAWK and the very nice RAF No.IV(R) Squadrons
100 SERIES livery was the deciding factor in this build.
MANUFACTURER: Airfix
COCKPIT
SCALE: 1/72
I used the Airfix # A-03073 kit, a good one in
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded terms of general shape but with two major
plastic
problems, these being some deep engraved
KIT NUMBER: A03073 panels and the fact that it’s a prototype version.
So, there are a number of modifications and
improvements needed to make an RAF T2.
Also its worth noting that almost every user
country has a specific Hawk version with
airframe and wing differences, so you will
have to check your references and identify all
these specifics points. I started the build with
the cockpit. It’s very basic, so a nice NeOmega
resin set was utilised, and this fitted nearly
perfectly. I also scratch-built a few details on
the cockpit walls using evergreen plastic sheet.
70 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
The ejection seats were also modified, and I
added some harness created with lead sheet.
AIRFRAME
For the airframe, I softened the engraved
panel lines by filling, sanding and
engraving new ones and also added
some details such as the structural
reinforcements, various antennas and
probes and the nose landing light. I also found
the Eduard etched set #73354 is a great help. I
also used CMK resin parts for the airbrake and
the nose landing gear bay, but this required
patience to fit correctly. One of the bad points
on my kit was the front windscreen, so I used a
replacement form an Airfix Hawk T.1 kit. For the
canopy I decided to replace it with a Revell Hawk
one, which in my opinion is more accurate, and
I detailed it with some plastic strip and copper
wire. The wings also need some work, I decided
to represent the flaps down as usually seen for
aircraft on the ground. My first idea was to use
a CMK set but I decided to create my own using
plastic sheet and the kit parts. The main wheel
well is a CMK resin part, very nice but required
time and sanding to get it to fit correctly. I also
refined the wing fences and added some vortex
generators. Next, I installed the wingtip pylons
and created my own dummy sidewinders. The
 PAINT IT BLACK

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF

MODIFICATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS
NEEDED TO MAKE AN RAF T2

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 71

1/72 BAE SYSTEMS HAWK 100 SERIES
specific underfuselage pod was not included
in the box, but fortunately Air Graphic Models
have a nice resin one. For the landing gear
I added some details and modified the
nose leg to accept some resin wheels.
72 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
PAINTING AND DECALS
The beautiful and bright black paint of the
RAF T2s was created using Gunze Gloss
Black applied in fine coats in order to obtain
a smooth finish. Next I used Air Graphic
Decals sheet #72-005 for the No.IV(R)
Squadron scheme, plus Xtradecal’s Hawk
sheet #72168 and the kit decals for all the
airframe stencils. The decals were then
sealed with an overall fine coat of Gunze
Gloss and it was time to the final assembly. I
also created some RBF tags and FOD covers
to give a more realistic look to the model.
CONCLUSION
Although the Airfix kit is not up
to the standard, with a little
improvement work you can get a
nice replica of this elegant jet.
 OUT
BUILDING THE

NOW
Harrier

!
Model Aircraft Extra #5 MODEL
AIRCRAFT

Building the Harrier

EXTRA

No.5
he iconic Hawker Siddeley Harrier was the first of the so-

T called Harrier ‘Jump Jet’ series. It was developed in the 1960s as

the first operational close-support and reconnaissance fighter
aircraft with vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL) capabilities, and
the only truly successful V/STOL design of the many that arose in that
era, and at its heart was the innovative Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine with
its thrust vectoring nozzles. The Harrier was developed directly from
the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel prototype aircraft, following the cancellation
of a more advanced supersonic Hawker Siddeley P.1154. Originally said
to be ‘unable to carry more than a matchbox over a football field’ the
Harrier matured into one of the most potent warplanes of its generation.
The RAF ordered the Harrier GR.1 and GR.3 variants in the late 1960s,
as well as T.4 trainers versions, and it was also exported to the United
States as the AV-8A and TAV-8A, for use by the US Marine Corps as
well as the Spanish Navy in the 1970s. Spain sold seven single-seat and
two twin-seat Harriers to Thailand in 1998. The Sea Harrier FRS.1, which
shot to fame during the Falklands War, was designed to fill the strike,
reconnaissance and fighter roles for the Royal Navy, and the innovative
use of a ‘ski jump’ allowed the aircraft to take-off from a short flight deck
with a heavier loadout than otherwise possible. After the Falklands War,
the Sea Harrier was upgraded to the F/A2 standard and featured the Blue
Vixen radar and carried the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. The Indian Navy
was the only other user of the Sea Harrier aboard their aircraft carriers
INS Vikrant and INS Viraat. The BAe/McDonnell Douglas Harrier II was
a second-generation of V/STOL aircraft designed for use by the US
Marne Corps, RAF and the Royal Navy and continues in service with the BUILDING THE
USMC as the AV-8B and TA-V8B trainer and is also in service with the

Harrier
Spanish and Italian Navies. For the RAF, initial deliveries of the Harrier II
were designated as Harrier GR.5 and subsequent upgraded airframes
were redesignated accordingly as GR.7 and GR.9. The RAF Harriers
saw action over Bosnia and Afghanistan before being retired in 2011.
Most of the original US Marine Corps AV-8B ‘day attack’ aircraft were Compiled by Andy Evans
upgraded to either the FLIR equipped ‘Night Attack Harrier’ or the more
capable radar equipped ‘Harrier II Plus’ and have participated in support
of Operation ‘Southern Watch’, Operation ‘Allied Force’. USMC AV-8Bs
also took part in Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ in Afghanistan from
MAE5
2001, and the aircraft also participated in the Iraq War in 2003, acting Harrier
primarily in support of USMC ground units, and in 2011, they flew in
support of Operation ‘Odyssey Dawn’, enforcing the UN no-fly zone over
Libya. This fourth book in the MA Extra Series contains fourteen model
builds, colour profiles and scale plans, and will be a must for the Harrier
£14.99
+P&P
aficionado!

MA PUBLICATIONS LTD

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T: +44 (0) 1234 331431 E: info@modelaircraftmag.com
www.modelaircraftmag.com
1/35 ANGRY PHOENIX

Kitti Tatsumaki builds

the quirky Sabre Models
AIM-54 missile kit

ANGRY PHOENIX
‘GOTCHA-BABY’
his unusual build features one of and for a super hard grip that could be sanded,

T the ‘toon’ series of AIM-54 Phoenix

missiles released by Sabre Model and
inspired by the ‘Gotcha Baby’ nose-art
carried on an F-14 Tomcat. You get ten parts in
grey plastic with two left and right main body
re-scribed and riveted. Next, I used some SF289
Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Grey as surfacer
and then I added some pre-shading using Gunze
40 German Grey, Using black as a pre-shade I
felt would make the finished model too dark.
KIT DETAILS
ANGRY PHOENIX
MANUFACTURER: Sabre Model

parts, eyebrows, teeth, tusks, a pair of wings, SCALE: 1:35

two tail planes, a few thorns on the dog leash
and some rivets. The fit is almost perfect with
little work needed. Both missile body parts were
assembled secured with Madworks CG-001
Black Super Glue which contained silica gel
BUILDING THE LITTLE BEAST KIT TYPE: Injection moulded
So, first I painted the head with pure white plastic
and the body with Gunze 307, and masked-off KIT NUMBER: CT001
both parts and then painted the ‘dog leash’
in black for better contrast. The eyes were

74 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

 ‘GOTCHA-BABY’
THE KIT WAS INSPIRED BY
THE ‘GOTCHA BABY’ NOSE-ART
CARRIED ON AN F-14 TOMCAT

hand-painted light blue with black outer ring.

Here I used AV Vallejo colours, as water-based
paint can be always be wiped away when a
mistake happens. For the mouth, I hand-painted
this with Vallejo Mecha 69.008 Red. Please
don’t glue the teeth and tusks before painting
as it will be much harder to paint the mouth
if you do. With all the main colours applied,
I simulated some colour fading by spraying
different tones of grey onto the body – typically
using Gunze 315, Gunze 338 and very diluted
white, and I tried my best to make it looks
more interesting but not over-doing the colors
and weathering. Once dry I added three layers
of Gaia EX-03 Clear to protect the paintwork,
especially the hand-painted parts as they tend
to be more fragile and much easier to scratch

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL 75

1/35 ANGRY PHOENIX

when compared to lacquer-based paint.

The decals were thin but few, so I also
used some leftover ones from some
previous projects to make it look more
substantial as most of the missiles
in US inventory are full of stencils!

FINISHING
The decals were left overnight to cure,
then a single clear coat was added
to protect them before a panel
line wash was added. Here I used
Tamiya Accent Black, and a smooth
and clean surface made the job much
easier as it flowed nicely along panel lines
and other details. This was then cleaned
up with Zippo fluid after five minutes.
Zippo fluid has almost same properties
as Tamiya X-20 but vaporises much
quicker than X-20 and is much cheaper
- but please handle fast and with care!
Three layers of matt varnish were then
applied, and I could call this project done!

CONCLUSION
The ‘Angry Phoenix’ is a very neat
kit, and something a little different
to have a go at – and I found
it to be a relaxing, fun build!
The red missile shown here
was built by Lucas Gan.

76 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

1/32 scale WWI British RFC Pilot & Lewis Gunner

KINGKIT
THE ORIGINAL KIT DEALER (Est. 1983)
Due to the continued success of our
new web site, we are looking to buy
all types of second hand models,
accessories and related books.... please
MC32024 MC32025
$22.50 USD $22.50 USD contact us for a quote
Also sold as a combo set (MC32026) $41.00 USD

THE www.kingkit.co.uk
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PLEASE NOTE: all our figures and accessories are unassembled and unpainted
To place an order and to see more please visit our website:
NEW
ADDRESS! TEL: 01952 586 457
www.ModelCellar.com e-mail sales@kingkit.co.uk www.kingkit.co.uk

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 THE IPMS (UK) COLUMN
Issue 1/2020 of the IPMS (UK) Magazine.
JOINING IN
elcome to the second IPMS
W (UK) Column to appear in
SAMI… so far so good! I said
in the last issue that I would,
over time, fill you in with more details of the
various benefits of Society membership and
during the last week or so I’ve actually been
musing on the ‘core’ benefit - the network of
Branches and Special Interest Groups. Once
upon a time I was, like many of you I’m sure,
a fairly solitary modeller. I bought my kits
from a local model shop (or possibly even a
toyshop) and I was able to get hold of glue
and paints from the same source. It was only
once I started to pick up copies of the monthly
modelling magazines then available that I
realised there was a world beyond this and,
via the various advertisements within the
pages, mail order became part of my life…
(to the youngsters amongst you, this was like
ordering online - but without the ‘online’ bit…).
Discovering ‘Modeldecals’, available exclusively
from Modeltoys in Portsmouth, changed
my life for ever. You might think I’m being
melodramatic for effect here but I’m perfectly
serious. I had discovered ‘the aftermarket’
and, such was the quality of this particular
product, a way to accurately ‘customise’ my
78 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
THE IPMS (UK)
COLUMN
BY MODELLERS, FOR MODELLERS
Presented by Chris Ayre on behalf of The
International Plastic Modellers’ Society (UK)
military aircraft models. It just so happened
that my particular area of interest coincided
with that of the man behind Modeldecals,
Richard L Ward, and my modelling horizon
expanded somewhat. Incidentally, I eventually
met Dick Ward, who died in 2017, and thanked
him for his (indirect) encouragement. He
was a real gentleman, a scholar and part
of the reason why you are having to put
up with my blather now. I digress…
I had known nothing of the IPMS but I
started to become aware of the fact that there
were such things as model shows and then I
discovered that there was a very large annual
model show, known as the IPMS Nationals, and,
in whatever year this was, it was being held
at Donington Park Exhibition Centre. This was
within striking distance of my trusty Honda
250 so along I went. There were lots of displays
of models, as you might imagine, but this was
when I found out that these were put on by
model clubs from around the country - and
that one of them was based in my own town!
Fancy that…. To be perfectly honest (and I’m
sure some of my friends will dispute this), I
was quite shy when it came to meeting new
people and I didn’t even approach the guys
manning the display. Subsequently, the thought
of walking into a room full of experienced
modellers did put me off attending a meeting
of that local model club for quite some time
but I eventually plucked up the courage. Of
course, as I should have known, I was made to
feel very welcome and, far from encountering
a bunch of know-it-alls who would look down
on my efforts, I realised that here was a group
of like-minded individuals with similar interests
to my own. Yes, some of them did appear to
know it all, but they were on the whole more
than happy to share what they knew. It also
quickly became apparent that there were
members of all levels of ability and, although
I was initially reluctant, I soon felt confident
enough to bring along some of my models.
It actually felt good to get feedback and
encouragement - any criticism was generally
constructive - and, amazingly, I discovered that
in some areas of interest it turned out that I
was the knowledgeable one. I could offer my
own encouragement and advice. Many of those
supposed ‘know-it-alls’ are friends to this day
and I really enjoy sharing my hobby with them.
As a result of my joining my local club, I
then became a member of IPMS(UK), of which
organisation my club is a Branch. I indicated
last month that becoming a member of an
IPMS Branch doesn’t usually require you
to join the Society but, it has to be said, it is
encouraged if only because of the various
benefits this brings (see the last issue for a
brief list or visit the IPMS (UK) website). There
are currently around 113 Branches scattered
across the UK (although two or three are
internet-based, non-geographical groups) so
the chances are that, if you are interested, you
will be able to find one or more somewhere
within a reasonable distance of where you
live. Your first port of call should again be the
IPMS (UK) website - ipmsuk.org - where you
will find meeting venues and contact details…
each Branch has a Secretary who will be
more than happy to provide more details.
Incidentally, bringing this back around to
the model shows mentioned above, quite a few
IPMS Branches are responsible for organising
the various local events across the country. You
will, more often than not, find that the effort
and inclination, not to mention the ‘person-
power’, required to put on a local model show
comes from an experienced, organised group of
modellers… which, as it happens, is exactly what
an established IPMS Branch consists of! The
vast majority of such events simply wouldn’t
happen without these people - and bear in mind
that these are not commercially run events.
They are entirely organised and run by groups
of volunteers as, indeed, is the previously
mentioned ‘IPMS Nationals’ which has since
evolved into Scale ModelWorld (the World’s
Greatest Model Show) of which more anon.
Chris
The IPMS (UK) website address is: ipmsuk.org
Membership enquiries: John Hebditch, 45
Havisham Drive, Swindon , Wiltshire SN25 1SL
Email: memberAdmin@ipmsuk.co.uk or visit:
ipmsuk.org/membership/ to join online.
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AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT
EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

No.6 No.5 No.4 No.3 No.2

BUILDING THE BUILDING THE

BUILDING THE BUILDING THE BUILDING THE

Spitfire
Compiled by Andy Evans
Harrier
Compiled by Andy Evans
P-51 MustangCompiled by Andy Evans
F-4 Phantom
Compiled by Andy Evans
Messerschmitt Bf 109 Compiled by Andy Evans

MAE 06 Building the MAE 05 Building the MAE 04 Building the MAE 03 Building the MAE 02 Building the
Spitfire £17.99 Harrier £14.99 P-51 Mustang £14.99 F-4 Phantom £14.99 Messerschmitt Bf 109
£14.99

MODEL
AIRCRAFT
EXTRA

No.1 THE DASSAULT

THE FAIRCHILD REPUBLIC

A-10 ‘WARTHOG’ By Andy Evans

MIRAGE
2000B/C/D/N and International Versions
By Andy Evans

BUILDING THE

Focke Wulf Fw 190

Compiled by Andy Evans
M DF
9
SCALED DOWN
M DF
8
SCALED DOWN

MAE 01 Building the MDFSD 11 The Grumman MDFSD 10 Eurofighter MDFSD 09 The Fairchild MDFSD 08 The Dassault
Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-6 Intruder £14.99 Typhoon £14.99 Republic A-10 ‘Warthog’ Mirage £14.99
£14.99 £14.99

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 BACK PAGE

IN THE NEXT ISSUE...

For the June Issue of SAMI, here’s just
a little of what we have planned
• Silver Wings Before Darker Times - Andrew Root
builds the 1/32 ICM Gloster Gladiator Mk.I in pre-War
colours
• Helldiver! - Garth Nicholson takes on the highs and
lows of the 1/72 Dragon/Cyber Hobby Curtiss SB2C-4
• Latin American Mirage - Francisco Gutierrez converts
the 1/32 Italeri Mirage III to a Chilean Mirage 50C
• Devastating Dottie - Ben Smith builds the 1/48 Airfix P-51D
Mustang
• Overtrees 109 - Floyd S Werner Jr builds the Eduard Bf 109G-10
with the Werner’s Wings Photo-Recon set
• Tomcatters Super Cat! - Dawid Branski looks at the stunning 1/48
AMK F-14D

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Volume 26 • Issue 5
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