JayDee

Thanks for the pics. You guys have all the best shows. I hope we don't disappoint you at Telford.

I've used them, and they work great. I used a little setting solution under each panel. Bed it down well with a cotton bud, and leave for a few fours. When you return, the carrier peels off and leaves just the rivets. It's about the same technology I used on the Natter HGW wood nails.

I toyed with the idea of building a scratch MB5 about 20 years ago, but it never came off.

Our sample arrived here today, so keep up the great work with this one....I am watching

I'm sure the late machine at Cosford has a bare metal wheel bay, but I could be wrong.

Lovin' it!

It is a seriously nice kit. I'll resurrect this one as soon as my current project is finished. I hope you'll share your build here?

I wish I'd gone the Eduard route for the pit. The Meng pit looks half developed...missing linksages, pipes, levers, straps etc. The rest of the kit is real nice, so that's a disappointment. If anyone can fix that office, it's the man and his orrifice....

Typical, Dave gets one first, and finishes it before I even see mine!

I knew you were hardcore, but I had no idea THIS much. That deserves a serious amount of respect, and a week at a sanatorium.

Those Meng belts are OK, but I'd consider Radu belts, or HGW anyway....perhaps Eduard's colour etch. I've started this, so as Jeroen has just berated me, I'll post a topic tomorrow.

I updated to 8.1, and no issue with copy/paste here, but I will keep an eye out just in case in manifests. 2014 will be my time to move to a Mac...

I just knew it. LSM is no longer a Meng Komet virgin, and Jeroen is the one to creatively defile it! Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.

Nice review, and just in time for the Meng Komet too

Hi guys and gals, For the last 3 or 4 years, I've been drifting. I've completed models on almost an ad-hoc basis. If I've been lucky, the stars have aligned, and I get something completed. It's time that I tried to regiment things a little, so for next year, I have some plans. Everything is subject to change, but I expect to build the following: 1:32 Revell He 111 with HPH detail set, in an engineering study 1:32 HPH Supermarine Walrus 1:48 Tamiya He 219 with full Aires detail set This should allow time to complete my WW1 projects for the Great War Group Build, and perhaps throw another un-named project into the mix. Whilst schedules are the antichrist for some, for others they work. What are YOUR plans for 2014?

Lovely work. Do you have any build images?

As long as it's new and doesn't harm his soft skin.

Jeroen will wave his arms and make those noises anyway

1:32 Sopwith Pups of the RNAS Pheon Decals Catalogue # 32014 Available from Pheon Decals Well, we've had two RFC Sopwith Pup decal reviews from Pheon, so it's only fair that we now redress the balance and turn our attention to a release designed for the RNAS version of the 1:32 Wingnut Wings kit. These RNAS machines are perhaps not quite as colourful as some of their RFC counterparts, having a basic PC10 scheme, but they are quite interesting subjects for a number of reasons that we'll outline here. Pheon's latest release is packed into the customary clear A4 ziplock bag, containing not only the A5 decal sheet, but a number of superbly printed glossy sheets depicting the profiles and plans for the FIVE marking options supplied, but also an excellent instructions leaflet, giving historical notes on the aircraft. The front of the package has an A4 insert, depicting the five schemes which this release contains. Rowan has again opted NOT to supply you with information about the type itself, as this is more than adequately covered within the Wingnut Wings manual. The eight page manual first explains the best way in which to apply the decals, as well as a note on wing cockade application. As a side note here, this set is supplied with ONE set of cockades, but should you want to build further schemes from this set, extra cockade sheets can be purchased from Pheon. The code is 32013a, and these sell for £4.50 per sheet. General colour notes are supplied too, as is the reference list that Rowan has used for producing this release. Also included are a few brief notes on how these aircraft were stained during their service life, and how natural metal panels would oxidize through lack of any treatment. The remainder of the manual goes on to detail the schemes, including both historical and color notation. Also check the scheme notes for modifications that a number of these models will have to undergo in terms of equipment and things like windscreens etc. We'll now take a look at these schemes. N6179, 'Baby Mine', Flt. Cdr T.C. Vernon, Flt Sub-Lts A.W. Carter & L.H. Slatter, 3 Sqn. RNAS, Marieux, France, April 1917 This machine, with a varnished upper decking, battleship grey cowl, and a white band around the fuselage, had a standard clear doped linen underside, and also a CDL vertical tail fin, with the Sopwith company name stenciled upon it. Wheel hubs are also CDL. This aircraft had an unusual windscreen which straddled the MG. This is clearly depicted on the profile, and supplied within this release, pre-printed onto a sheet of acetate!. N6200, 'Bobs', Flt Cdr A. M. Shook, 4 Sqn RNAS, Bray Dunes, France, May 1917 'Bobs' also had a varnished upper deck, but this time it had a bare metal engine cowl and side panels. Unusually for this machine, not only was the vertical fin painted in royal blue, but there was a distinct possibility that the entire upper tailplane was also painted to match this, as were the hubs. The drawings do show a possibility of CDL hubs. N6183, 'Mildred', Flt Cdr. J.A. Glen, 3 Sqn. RNAS, Marieux, France, May 1917 'Mildred' has her name emblazoned, as with the other machines, on the fabric panel just below the pilot's position. With the limitation in understanding how to represent colour from old black and white photographs, it is possible that the name 'Mildred' was stenciled in red, with a white 'shadow' to it. Pheon have included decals including the red version, as well as the shadow stencil by itself. It's up to you how you wish to depict this. I'm sure no one will be able to critique you for using the 'wrong' set! Mildred's engine cowl had its upper portion painted red, whilst the remainder of this and the side panels, were left in natural metal. The upper deck was varnished, and TWO types of hub option are included; a bare white version for the aircraft's early service, and a red, white and blue for later. The latter is supplied as a decal, split to help it overlay the cone shape of the hub. N6203, 'Mina', Flt Cdr. L.H. Slatter, RNAS Seaplane Defence Flight, St Pol, France, July 1917 This machine may have had a white cowl, or it could have been natural metal. Again, limitations in interpreting old photos will always leave more questions unanswered, than it will answer them. Mina's wheel hubs were white, and the vertical fin was painted in PC10 also. This aircraft had two very unusual large, white teardrops painted onto its tailplane. These are included as decals, due to their complex shape N6181, 'Happy', Flt Cdr. L.S. Breadner, 3 Naval Sqn, Marieux, France, April 1917 In amongst the carnage of war, I find it ironic that a pilot could name their aircraft 'Happy', but that's just what we have here. As with Mildred, the 'Happy' name is supplied in decal form as both a red word with white shadow, and as just the shadow itself. It's your decision as to which way you want to go with this. The natural metal engine cowl also had its upper portions painted in red. White horizontal bands adorned the upper and side fuselage, as did it on the upper wing centre section itself. Elevators were also painted white. Again, the unusual split windscreen of this machine is supplied with this set, on a piece of acetate. This set includes 3 glossy-printed sheets depicting the profiles. The first two sheets contain a portside profile of each machine, with cutaway drawings depicting various options. The third sheet shows the aircraft in upper plan. The decals As previously mentioned, the sheet accompanying this release is A5 in size, and contains one set of cockades, and one set of fin decals. Cockades are printed with separate red centres, and with cut-outs for the control surface inspection panels. With the exception of the wrap around fuselage band of the first machine, all other such bars etc are given as decals. Stencils are supplied for each serial machine, too. The decals are printed by Fantasy Printshop, and are both thin and contain minimal carrier film. Colours are authentic and not too vivid, and printing is in perfect register. Conclusion This is a very simple set which will go to produce some fairly unusual PC10 schemes. Rowan has a knack of finding subjects which have a little bit of the unusual about them, and again, he has succeeded with this set. Thoroughly researched and beautifully presented, this set is another winner for WW1 aircraft modellers! Very highly recommended Our sincere thanks to Pheon Decals for the review set. James H

What an inspirational build. If you want to mould and cast this, I'd like to build this too......

Absolutely. I was on the verge of packing stuff away for a year... @ Nick: I got the 'Substitute 'burn' for 'sell'. email notification, but came here to found it deleted. Email notifications never tell a lie! ADH pay well, and I've certainly no problem with accepting their coin.

[pimp] I thought I'd pimp this build again. Signings on request. I'm also available for after-dinner speeches and Bar Mitzvahs' too. Available from this Saturday [/pimp]

VERY nice! I'd love to see this alongside the Takom release.

1:32 Plywood effect decals Old Propeller Catalogue #: see article for # and price Available from Nordland Models We most certainly live in a hobby-world where some of those once previously difficult or onerous tasks are being eradicated. Whilst some modellers find it easy to beautifully replicate wood grain using oils, or perhaps even with brushing the grain itself, some of us do not. With the increase in popularity of World War 1 modelling, we are beginning to see some quite innovative and exciting ideas spring forward to tempt us to be more creative, or to help out where we struggle with those other techniques. One of those ideas which is catching on quite quickly is the use of decals to recreate those warm timber tones we see both internally and externally on some of these early aircraft. A number of manufacturers have entered this arena, with us looking at the Uschi van der Rosten sets here a while ago. Indeed, I recently completed my 1:32 Bachem Ba 349 Natter for the Military Illustrated Modeller magazine, using Uschi's translucent decal system. These are, however, a little different in their approach, as they are printed on a 'base-white' background. This means that there is no colour saturation and tint work to prepare beforehand, but on the other hand, this means that these are perhaps more aimed at interior model work. Of course, you can post-shade these decals, but they are far less flexible in that respect. Old Propeller have sent us TWO of their range of plywood decals. These are: D32037, Plywood Medium, £10.00 D32038, Plywood Dark, £10.00 As with Old Propeller's lozenge sets, the A4 Plywood decal sheets are packed into a re-sealable wallet, and have a card insert to help stiffen the pack a little. Another sheet is inserted to the rear which explains decal surface preparation and decal application. The sheet itself is not a large single expanse of plywood, but instead it is broken down into THIRTY individual panels, measuring approximately 28mm x 50mm. The printing itself is done on a laser printer, so there is no issue with any registration which only applies to silk-screen printing methods. However, underneath the laser printing is a silk-screen printed white base which means that the colour you see on the sheet is the colour you will have after application. The panels themselves carry some extremely varied grain patterns, including some with quite a lot of knots, and some less so. All panels look incredibly real, in fact almost like small pieces of marquetry, I imagine that you could actually create an amazing looking Albatros D.V with this sheet, if you use a little artistic license with regard to the number of knots on some panels. Uschi van der Rosten released a Knotless set to tackle the issue of decaling the exterior of models. You can probably find enough material on these sets to actually create something which isn't too knotty at all. I might give that a try in the near future. Both decal sets contain the same pattern panels, but only in different shades. The Medium set has the warm timber tones we are used to seeing on models, colour profiles and on reproduction aircraft. To me, it is perfect for using as an exterior decal, if you ignore the knots aspect. The Dark set looks very representative of some of the dark timber panels you see inside these period aircraft, or even exterior, where the shellac varnish has aged and darkened the overall appearance of the wood. The instructions do also suggest that you can use decal setting solutions to enable these to seat too. The compound curves involved in some fuselage designs would dictate that you need a little assistance in that respect. As a footnote, these decal sets can also be purchased in Light Plywood too. Conclusion The printing quality is exceptional, as I have mentioned in the main text, and these really have me eager to try my hand at that Albatros I always wanted to build. I do think this set also represents excellent value for money in its generous A4 format. You won't have as much flexibility with regard to your finish as you would do with a transparent carrier, but the warmth and tone of the decals should compensate for that. If anyone has built a model and used these, we'd be interested in hearing from you and seeing your finish. Recommended. Our sincere thanks to Old Propeller for the review samples used here. To purchase directly, click THIS link.

You know you want to