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Keith, those are some really good scores! I’m really liking those two quarter scale kits, but that P-43 is sure a fine score as well! Well I’ve been slowly adding to the flyboys section of my stash over the past few weeks, so now it’s time to share… first up, some decals for the Hind in my stash that I had been wondering how to mark I took a chance and ordered them from Ukraine in early April, and they actually arrived within a few weeks. Next up is this gorgeous set for late career USMC Skyhawks. I can make at least two Scooters off this sheet, and possibly might acquire one more, as they have an F in the TPS grays! then I picked up this old decal set since I’m feeling the urge to model some Yellow Wings stuff… I haven’t done that since I was a kid and lastly this just arrived in todays mail, purchased off eBay for a fine price. It’s the old Hobbycraft molds, which arent bad at all, but it has a fabulous Cartograph decal sheet with about eight markings options. That’s all for now ;)

Reviewed by: Andrew Manriquez Company: Value Gear I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever looked at a kit and said, “That looks easy. I’ll just whip that together in the next day or two.” That’s pretty much what came to mind when I looked at the Value Gear Sherman Engine Deck Set. After all, how hard can it be to paint up some stowage and slap it on a tank? You can guess where that idea went. This particular set, Engine Deck Set #13, contains the following eight individual resin pieces specifically designed for the Sherman: Single musette/field bag Double musette/field bag Single long crate Pair of tarps, small Pair of tarps, larger Bundle of crates, fuel cans, tarp and axe more...View the full article

Thanks Mark. Just wait until I get some OD on this baby… 😉 I had a good bench session in today after lunch. I completed about 95% of the turret assembly. I need to do a little bit of painting before I call the turret finished and I can move on to priming the turret Now of course I had to test fit the turret…. I think tomorrow that I’ll wrap up the rest of assembly aside from clear parts that I won’t glue into place until just before weathering….

Thank you so much!! This plane has been sitting for almost 2 years waiting to get the final touch.. Sending you a DM. -Bryson

I have one from the TBM-1C boxing you can have. Not sure how different it is from the -3D if at all.

Hey everybody! My dad and I built an Avenger to honor my great grandpa (he was the bubble gunner on this plane during WW2) and the front windscreen of the canopy is missing (Part #67). We looked all over the internet to try and find a replacement part but the only thing we found out was Accurate Miniatures went out of business and were bought out by Model Rectifier Corporation . My dad called MRC and they said they don't carry Accurate Miniatures models anymore, so I was hoping someone could maybe point us in the right direction. Model #480121 Accurate Miniatures TBM-3D Avenger "Night Fighting Bomber from VT(N)-90" Any help is greatly appreciated! Have a great day everyone!! -Bryson

That's all fine if the judges look at the documentation. I've had personal experience where they didn't. Still, some prefer a pristine model and others prefer a more realistic look. No one should assume the seam or sloppy paint is automatically poor craftsmanship Particularly when it is very obvious. Dak

Very nice! Good scheme on an unusual type. You may be surprised to learn that the Fulmar actually achieved 122 air-to-air kills, more than any other FAA fighter type. AZ often uses molds originally designed by other companies; I believe their Fulmar is the one originally released under the "Vista" brand.

The secret is documentation. Contest judges don't have hours to debate every subtlety of your model, and don't know every anomaly of every aircraft ever made. It's your job to inform them, not their job to read your mind. If a detail clearly falls outside the norm, take the time to describe it on the entry form or even better, attach a photo.

Reviewed by: Andrew Manriquez Company: Kagero Publishing As an avid reader and collector of WWII related books, I am always on the lookout for material that presents unique perspectives and experiences from this era. Finding this book, Barbarossa Campaign in 1941 Hungarian Perspective fits right in. more...View the full article

Reviewed by: Brian R. Baker Company: Kagero Publishing HISTORICAL BACKGROUND This book tells the story of the development and operational career of the Nakajima B5N Japanese Navy torpedo bomber, known as the Kate to the Americans, who developed a sophisticated identification system which avoided the linguistic problems associated with adapting the Japanese language to American use. In general, fighters had boys’ names, while bombers and other types used girls’ names. Therefore, Zeke, Nate, and Jack were fighters, while Nell, Betty, and Kate were bombers. The story of the development of that system is another story. more...View the full article

Reviewed by: Paul R. Brown Company: Scale Aircraft Conversions This set is designed to provide replacement parts for Hobby Boss’ 1/72 A-4F Skyhawk kit. As with most of SAC’s landing gear sets, the metal parts are intended to be one-for-one replacements for the kit parts. The set consists of the nose gear strut, port and starboard main gear struts and retraction/extension arms for all three of these. more...View the full article

Reviewed by: Brian R. Baker Company: Kagero Publishing HISTORICAL BACKGROUND more...View the full article

Reviewed by: Bob LaBouy Company: Pen and Sword Books Ltd Contents: Introduction 5 Deployment on the Eastern and Western Fronts up to Summer 1944 19 Assessment of the German Situation in Holland, September 1944 23 Chapter One The Landings 39 Chapter Two First Attacks 57 Chapter Three Battle for Arnhem 69 Chapter Four Retaking Arnhem 91 Epilogue 105 more...View the full article

Gents: I recently purchased Tamiya's 1/48 G4M Betty (Operation Vengeance) which came with a figure of Admiral Yamamoto and Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Ground Crew. The kit instructions provide recommendations for the paint colors for them I am dubious as the accuracy of the instructions. I recall Admiral Yamamoto wearing IJN officer tropical greens before he passed. Also, the instructions recommend a mix of Tamiya XF-1 and XF-57 for some of the ground crew. The Osprey books are useful not helpful as to the hobby paint colors for Admiral Yamamoto and the IJN Aviation Ground Crew. I am looking for recommendations for hobby paint colors by serial number from any paint line I could use for their uniforms. I don't have any issues with the paint colors for the pilots. Thanks. All the best, George

Thank you Carlos! I'm trying to keep the momentum going.

I second Gil's recommendation for AK Extreme Metallics. They are magnificent paints that have finally allowed me to have a bare metal finish worthy of the name.

Yes! Nice work! This looks excellent in black as well!

Beautiful work. Looks great in black!

Sensational work! That looks amazing and even better next to your other egg beaters. Brilliant job Dave!

I agree with Gil, I don't see any warts either. That looks magnificent!

Not an issue I have seen myself. I do not prime with gloss black. I usually use Stynylrez black, white, or grey primers. I have recently found however that it works fine over bare plastic too. I typically spray at 15 psi and mist the first coats on then hit it with a wet coat almost immediately. Not the recommended procedure but it works for me. Most of my Alclad stash is close to 10 years old so I don't think age is a problem. However the formula may have changed. Paint issues are always interesting. One thing is for sure, different people can see vastly different results from the same product. Chemistry, bah humbug. 🙃

The MQ-8B Fire Scout is complete. This week I applied the kit decals for HSM-35. The decals were very nice. They went down nicely. The kit does not come with clear parts for the navigation lights. I used some scrap clear styrene and made the four lights. (One on top, one under, and the two side lights). Finally I worked on the rotors. The tail rotor is all photo etch and fits perfectly into its resin mount. The main rotor is a little tricky. There is a cup at the end to attach it to the hub. This cup is larger than the pin on the hub so there is a lot of play. Getting the rotor blades aligned takes some care. I taped down the ends of the blades using the work surface grid to line them up then positioned the hub in the center. Once I had everything lined up I glued them into place. I finally attached the nose turret and this completed the aircraft. The kit itself goes together very well. It would have been nice if they included a jig for the main rotors similar to the jigs you typically see with resin propeller sets for aircraft kits. The only fit issue was the nose to the main body but a little putty and some sanding corrected it. The decal set matched the reference photos except for the turret decals that were not included. If you want to try your hand at a resin kit, this would make a good start. It is not very complicated and it is an interesting subject. The final photo is the aircraft on the display shelf sitting next to my 1/48 AH-64 so this should give you an idea on how small this drone is in scale. Thanks for following along. Check out all the photos and details from start to finish in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-mq-8b-fire-scout-drone/

Since I had the airbrush up and running today, and the primer mixed properly, I also airbrushed on a coat onto the hull of this one after finishing with the Crusader AA session. I just left the driver periscopes undone as those are clear and I need to do an interior silver coat on those first. Now I need to start on the turret assembly…

Since our second 4 hour build session was cut off an hour early, we had a “floater” 1 hour session to take at our own choice. I did mine today, adding some stowage items, then airbrushing on a coat of Mig One Shot Black Primer over everything So next session will be on May 28 when I finish this thing up…