Flying Flatiron - part 4

Here then is the completed Javelin. I added the Firestreak AAMs on which I was unable (as usual) to resist adding red noses. It’s a striking looking thing and it’s shape and size give it great presence. 

Flying flatiron - part 3

Build complete - on with the paint! A quick spray all over of pale grey, then more grey brushed on with come olive camo.

Flying Flatiron - part 2

 

Once the glue dried it was time to press on.  Off came all the tape.  Sadly some of the gaps were such - wing roots and base of tail - that not even my rather slapdash quality control could accept them.

In not entirely unrelated news I have now run out of filler!

Flying Flatiron - part 1

For my first kit of 2023 I dug this out for a game I have in mind.  I believe it’s an incarnation of the old (1975) FROG kit  

Not too many parts - phew!

Look at the thickness of that plastic!

The tooling clearly isn’t in its first flush of youth, so a LOT of tape is required to hold it together while the glue dries. 

dh Sea Vixen

Hot on the heels of the Canberra, next to emerge from the pile of dust and plastic is this rather fetching Sea Vixen.  It's respectable appearance is no doubt helped by the fact that I neither built nor painted the thing...

Such is it's completeness that it retains a full set of wheels!  I think this is probably the FROG kit.

If it looks pretty sleek and modern this is understandable - it was only replaced in 1972 by the F-4 Phantom.

A cracking Canberra

The latest survivor of the celebrated Partizan ‘plane purchase is this rather tidy looking Canberra. I think it’s the FROG kit. Under the dust it was resplendent in a grey over blue finish, so my work has been confined to encouraging the remains of the undercarriage to fall off and then replacing the flaky decals.

A Christmas Katyuska - SB-2 part 4

 This cutting-edge (c1938) bomber is now complete and resplendent in Spanish Republican colours. My Nationalist AA gunners are already looking forward to it filling their sights.

Christmas Katyuska - part 3

Paintwork is now complete. I opted for a simple overall green with pale blue underside. Once that was dry I masked and painted on the red bands which marked the wings and fuselage of Spanish Republican aircraft. The number and coloured stripes on the tail were sourced from the kit’s own (slightly faded) decal sheet.

Hopefully a coat of clear varnish will make its appearance less disreputable.

A Christmas Katyuska - part 2

Behold the contents of the box. Despite the kit’s antiquity the parts were pretty free of flash.

Fit was another matter, though if it had spent some of its forty years in an attic then that would account for a degree of warping. Easily solved by masking tape while the glue dried. I know my standards are pretty (well very) low but for a kit of this age to not require filler is a tribute to the quality of the original tooling.

Next - paint!

A Christmas Katyuska - part 1

 After last summer’s Ebro game my Nationalist AA gunners complained of a lack of large targets. As I have been prevailed upon to run a similar game at this year’s COW action was clearly required!  A few minutes on eBay later and I was the proud owner of this ancient kit of Comrade Tupolev’s finest.
Once I make a high enough morale roll I’ll open the box and begin....

Calamitously crappy Commie Canberra complete at Christmas

Remember the ghastly ex-Frog Canberra?  Here it is in flight, so to speak and wearing South African colours. Given its unpromising beginnings it seems to have turned out OK.

Calamitously crappy Commie Canberra - part 1

They say you should never judge a book by it's cover.  The same rule should apply to kits and their boxes, but sometimes a crappy box is simply a warning of what is to follow.  So it was with this horrid cheap Eastern-bloc cardboard box.

The contents  - in  garish yellow plastic...

...and the instructions, printed on what felt like recycled loo roll.  I believe this is another reworking of the old FROG kit.

The parts didn't look too bad - until I tried fitting them together.  At this point, considerable quantities of masking tape and blu-tac were deployed to hold the parts - if not in place then at least in loose formation.

This much yellow plastic is quite hard on the old eyes!  And you could fly a Hunter through those panel gaps.  Paint coming next.  Lots of it.

Battle-weary Beaufort

A fitting follow-up to the Blenheim, latest to emerge from the Partizan 'plane purchase pile is this Beaufort.  Never having owned or built a Beaufort I had to do a bit of research to establish the maker of this kit.  I think it is the Frog (or Novo) Mk1.

The model was in good shape and though the paintwork is very tatty and worn looking, I rather like the effect!

Vultee Vengeance

I'll let you into a secret.  For a long time I have wanted a one of these.  I'm not entirely sure why - possibly because it is that rare thing, an Allied land-based dive bomber, but I suspect it must be more to do with the rather appealing name.  After all, it can hardly be the appearance of the thing, looking as it does like something assembled in a scrapyard from bits of P-47 Thunderbolt, Ju-87 and Fairey Battle.

Let's agree that it has a 'purposeful' appearance.  I was delighted to find this example in last year's acquisition.  I believe it to be the old FROG kit as I don't think anyone else was fool enough to make a Vengeance.

Originally designed to meet a French requirement, it saw active service with RAF, RAAF and Indian AF.

The Far East colour scheme is striking - I think it would also look rather good in it's intended French colours.

Tuesday Tupolev

Strictly speaking this is last Tuesday's Tupolev but I didn't get round to posting it then.

It's the old FROG kit of the SB.2 bomber which served from the late 1930s and well into the Great Patriotic War. 

As per the old box art, this one had originally been built with skis but they were in a poor state.  Having binned the skis and re-glued various parts I replaced the flaky original decals.

Dustoff

Sorry - not a CASEVAC helicopter in sight.
The post title relates to the main job carried out during the refurb of these wobbly-winged wonders which were part of the Partizan plane purchase.
I actually dealt with these first as their numbers were less intimidating than those of the WW2 and Cold War models.

A lot of dust and some plastic.  This ancient SE5a may be the Revell kit.  Under the dust is was actually in pretty good shape with only some decals requiring replacement.

Less dust and less plastic.  This Nieuport 17 is again I believe a Revell kit.  The roundels were all but gone so I carefully scraped off the remains and added a set from the decal box.  I also took the opportunity to paint the tail stripes.

More dust and more plastic.  This Bristol Fighter is probably an Airfix offering.  Like the SE5a it had survived quite well, give or take the odd roundel.

The aircraft park taking shape.  But hang on - what are those big piles of dust and broken plastic at the back?

None other than (dramatic drum roll please...) in descending order of vastness  - and ascending order of completeness - an HP 0/400 (Airfix) and a Vickers Vimy (FROG).  An entire tube of glue disappeared in the securing of many, many struts.  I would never have been fool (or rich) enough to buy either of these kits so I feel very fortunate to get these vaguely serviceable versions so cheaply.

To see what fun the 0/400 is to build have a look at Al's version here.