151 articles · 36.5K karma · 43 friends · active 5 hours, 47 minutes ago

I mostly do 1/48 USN and British Commonwealth aircraft, all eras. I also have a weakness for WW1 German planes and 1/700 ships.

1/35 Scots Greys M3 Grant.

I enjoyed the Stuart so much that I knocked out another old Tamiya tank kit that lurked in the stash for decades. This one is the 1974 vintage M3 Grant. Not a bad model for 1974. One thing the kit lacks are rails above the sand [...]

1/35 M3 Stuart.

After banging out 20 airplane kits in a row, along with 3 in progress since COVID started, my mojo has waned a bit. For a little change of pace, I pulled this 1974 Tamiya Stuart kit from the stash and had some fun. I purchased a Star [...]

1/72 Bristol Blenheim IVf.

This is the new tool Airfix Blenheim. Airfix has given the Blenheim pretty extensive coverage over the last 8 years. They’ve produced bomber and fighter variants of both the Mk. I and Mk. IV in 1/72 for a total of four kits. They [...]

1/72 Bristol Beaufort.

This is the new Airfix kit. It continues Airfix’ recent record of excellence by packing a lot of detail into a small box. The model features a pretty complete interior that you would expect in a 1/48 kit. In addition to the great [...]

1/48 SNJ-5c

This is the old but still the best, Monogram kit. The last time I built one of these was when it came out in 1979. This one was made from a 2008 Revell release, made in China. Since Revell’s bankruptcy, I’ve noticed that a lot of [...]

1/48 Spitfire Mk. XII.

This is the Airfix kit from around 10 years ago. This kit and the Seafire XVII were the first 1/48 Spitfires designed by Airfix under Hornby’s management. I built this one straight from the box for the most part. I only added Eduard [...]

1/48 RAAF Tiger Moth – de Havilland 100 Group Build.

This is the new Airfix kit built as an Australian bird that was assigned to 8 Squadron, RAAF, in Malaya in 1941-42. 8 Squadron was a Hudson bomber unit so we can surmise that this Moth was a squadron utility hack. I found a photo of it [...]

1/48 AMG Hawker Hind.

This is the newish AMG Hawker Hart finished as an Irish Air Corps Hawker Hind. The Hind was an improved version of the Hart that featured a more powerful RR Kestrel engine, a tail wheel, and the cut down rear gunners position from the [...]

1/48 Bristol Blenheim If.

This is the outstanding recent Airfix kit. It’s highly detailed, well engineered, and is a pleasure to build. I started this one late last year and it assembled very quickly with no problems. The only thing I added was a set of Eduard [...]

1/48 Reggiane Re. 2001

This is the new Sword kit. It’s a completely new mold and shares nothing with the old Classic Airframes model of this plane. The plastic moldings on this kit are top notch, smooth surfaced, and fit well. The only things that indicate [...]