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A lifelong interest in aviation (my dad was a silver C glider pilot and private power pilot) saw me massacre many an airfix/revell/frog/hasegawa/matchbox kit in my youth, before abandoning the hobby in my later teenage years.

A career in science (geology, glaciology) strangely morphed into aviation again, with a redundancy package allowing me to fulfil my lifelong desire to pilot real aircraft. I gained my commercial pilot's licence in 2008, and was made redundant in that too. I jumped on the "drone" bandwagon, and pursued that until very recently.

COVID reared it's annoyingly ugly head in 2019, and during lockdown I found an old Italeri kit, purchased in 1976, which has sucked me right back into my childhood! I now have a new "stash" of kits to build, and actively seek moments away from my young family to tinker quietly, therapeutically, in my man cave.

My main interest is in WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft, with the occasional random distraction thrown in for variety.

Thanks for dropping by!

Messerschmitt Bf109 E-7/B, Eduard 1/48 scale

Finally, a 109 in the collection. I've always admired the graphic design of the Wespen, and many decades ago I had a 1/72 Hasegawa kit that never quite made it to the finish line. So when I saw this Eduard version in a slightly less fiddly [...]

Junkers Ju-87 R-2 "Sturzkampfflugzeug"

My very first Stuka: an R-2 from 3rd Staffel, 1st Gruppe, Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, as it may have appeared in April-May 1940, based in France. Pretty much Italeri out of the box, with a few Eduard embellishments in the cockpit. I spent far [...]

Grunau Baby Glider, 1/48 Special Hobby

Another gift for my dad... harking back to his gliding days in South Australia in the 1950's. He declared this his favourite aeroplane ever, and he even managed to get his "Silver C" in this aircraft: 5 hours aloft. This was back [...]

Fw 190A-5/U8 1/48 Eduard "Jabo"

Finally managed to finish my first ever Fw190... can't quite believe it's taken me so long to build one. Anyway, here she be: possibly not great, as I had a few issues with the paint finish, but I'm generally pretty happy with it. Finished [...]

Airfix DHC-1 Chipmunk 1/48 scale

The DHC-1 Chipmunk has often been referred to as "the poor man's Spitfire". I've painted this one in civil registration for an aircraft in Malaysia in the early 1970s that my dad used to fly, and have been racing to complete it [...]

Gotha Go 244 in 1/72 scale – Italeri 1974

Having just made a tentative return to the modelling world, thanks to COVID-19 lockdown, it was with some trepidation that I embarked on this build! When I was modelling back in the 1970's I was probably just OK for a teenager, but looking [...]