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I'm a science educator, a Brit from London living in Queensland, Australia, with my wife and 2 sons. Dad taught me about WW2. He was 13 at the start of the war in Europe and made it into the Merchant Navy in '43. My uncle Artie was on HMS Ark Royal for the hunting of The Bismarck and when she was torpedoed herself in '41. Both outlasted the war. I built models with my dad in the mid-70s and early 80s. I finally made it back to the hobby in 2016. My 5-year-old has just built his first model - a Red Arrows Hawk. The cycle continues!

Rommel’s Taxi – The Tamiya Fieseler Storch 1/48th – Kasserine Pass Group Build

A popular decoding of ‘The Rommel Myth’ suggests that both sides in the Second War used him as a propaganda weapon, and that he was fundamentally a committed patriot quietly enraged by the restrictions placed upon Germany by The Treaty [...]

‘Weaver’s Nude’ Nose Art Group Build

William Joyce, the Irish-American better known as ‘Lord Haw Haw’, was hanged as a traitor in Wandsworth Prison in January 1946. His failed appeal had gone to the House of Lords, as he argued that being an American citizen, also a [...]

The RAF is 100 Years Old Today! Gentlemen, Start your Engines!

Today is the Centenary of the birth of The RAF. On April 1st 1918 the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps amalgamated to form the world's first independent airforce. Many of the models built here on iModeler are of RAF [...]

'Mikey’s First Build' – Tamiya 1/48th Focke Wulf D9 – ‘Rudel’s Dora’

When we relocated to Australia from London, the shipping container with our possessions included a small number of partially started kits that I put away, upon our arrival, into 'the cupboard', to finish at a later point. The youngest of [...]

Year of The Cat Group Build: Grumman Martlet Mk III – Hobby Boss 1/48 Wildcat F4F-3A

When Louis announced the group all those months ago, and with its closing date being quite some way distant, I decided to go for three builds. Three kits whose fates were already planned (although the ‘109 E7 Trop’ took a few twists [...]

Battle of Kasserine Pass Group Build: U-81 Revell 1/350th (The U-Boat That Sank my Great Uncle Artie)

Operation Torch, and the arrival of British and US troops on the French North-African coast in November 1942, was the invasion that established the basis for the Tunisian campaign; the defeat of Rommel; and ultimately the opening of a [...]

Year of the Cat Group Build: BF 109 E4/7 Trop, Tamiya 1/48, ‘Yellow 6’ – Hans Joachim Marseille – in ‘Leopard Camo’

The mentality of those whose families fought and suffered on the ‘right side of history’ is often, understandably, to automatically consign those fighting on the other side, to a pigeon hole that does not allow for admiration. During [...]

One Hundred Years of The RAFInventory now up and running in 'Groups' Section!

Next year on April 1st, as many of you will know, the Royal Air Force is 100 years old. I thought that this might be something we could commemorate here on iModeler. It is a rich history: (link) Knowing that The Year of the Cat group build [...]

Shelf of Doom Pt 2 Eduard Spitfire FR IX

This is another testament to my bad choices! 30 months ago, when I still lived in the UK, I very happily surveyed the contents of the highly praised Eduard Spitfire MkIX profipack. It was due to be my second build upon returning to the [...]

Shelf of Doom Pt 1 Eduard 1/48 Polikarpov Rata

After about a year deciding whether to consign this to the bin or not I went back to it. I had been experimenting with brush-painting it entirely using oils having seen a brilliant youtube clip... Anyway after failing completely I put this [...]