Completed for 2016..

December 17, 2016 · in Aviation · Year in review · 15 ≡ · 1.7K

Hello Folks,

Expanding on a theme by Tom Cleaver ,Here are the kits I managed to complete over the past year. While not as many as I had hoped, it's what I had time to tackle, in between life's little curve balls thrown my way.

First up, is Airfix's beautiful 1:48 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I. One of my favorite aircraft, and one of my favorite models ever. Great build, LOTS of detail, and a reasonable price. What more can you ask for? Markings are for P/O Kenneth William Mackenzy, 501 Squadron, from RAF Kenley, 7 October, 1940. (Google him, he's a real live maniac)

Second, is Eduard's repop of Accurate Miniatures 1:48 scale YAK-1b. Nice little kit, with the fit of the "Fiddley bits", extremely fiddley. Eduard gives a little PE to help out, and that a nice touch. Model builds well and looks the part. Markings are for an aircraft attached to the 812 Fighter Air Division, 3rd Fighter Air Corps. Aircraft lost in combat with German fighters, 12 April, 1944.

Third, is Tamiya's fantastic 1:48 F4U-1, "Corsair". I'm hazarding a guess here, that pretty much all of us have build this little gem at least once, and know how nice a kit this is. If you have not, then you need to go out and get one, as the prices for them are very reasonable. Only fit issue I found, is when modeling the wings deployed, the seam between the inner and out wing sections needs care for proper alignment. Otherwise you'll get a wee step there, and it'll show up...ask me how I know this... :(. Inspite of that though, it's a fantastic model, as are most Tamiya kits. Markings are for Marine Lt. Don Aldrich, of VMF-215, at Torokina, in January, 1944.

Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4, 9 Staffel, 3rd Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 26, August 1940.

Lastly, is the "Project" of my year, Nichimo's 1:48 Kawasaki Ki-45 "Toryu". Kit by itself is very nice, but suffers from a lack of detail in the cockpit and wheel bays. I decided to "FIX" that by adding Lone Star Models detail sets, which addresses those issues with the kit. THEY...are a pain in the a*s. Much fighting and fitting and re-fighting and re- fitting went into making them work. Eventually I won, but felt like I was in a bar fight afterwards. I have another in the stash, and next time, I'll build her OOB, or add my own details from scratch. Still a good kit in spite of it's age. Markings are for a Ki-45 flown by Ito Totaro, 5th Sentai, 1st Chutai, from Kiyosu AB Japan, November 1944.

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