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not much progress due to covid (again, my 5th time !). Anyway, she's on her main float and decals are going on. Just the wing floats and some small details to add. I went with A48-11 (JE M) as this aircraft never had the braces added for the bomb racks. Saved me time and stress building them from scratch so I was being lazy really. As well as finishing the bits that came in the box, I need to scratch the braces to the main float, will probably do that before adding the wing floats to give me room for my ham-fists ! neil

These Australian Kingfishers went hunting with depth charges so I wanted to add that to my build. I found these 3d printed ones from Flying Start Models. This is the first 3d printed aftermarket I've bought and I think they are great. What's more the owner, Tim, is a really decent chap based on my very limited dealings with him, highly recommend him and his products. Looking at the one close up photo I could find of these kingfishers carrying depth charges it looks like it was carrying the earlier Mk VIII however I bought a set of each just in case. Next I need to make the field installed braces enabling them to carry these 250lb DC's. neil

It's a MkVIII depth charge - I have just bought a set of these in 1/32 scale.

bit more progress, starting to get paint on and weathering underway. According to my book on the these RAAF aircraft, they were washed down after each flight but having never built a 1/32 float plane before I wanted to weather it a bit so I'm on the world of make believe where my planes crew chief would rather sit back and have a beer than wash the aircraft that frequently ! Anyway, as with most of my builds, I have made a few mistakes along the way (over eager with the file and squared off a few rounded edges is the biggest one, you will most likely spot where !) but really enjoying this one. thanks for looking neil

that's looking really good. neil

still have some more of the interior to do however I just did a test fitting closing the two halves up. Despite the massive greenhouse and large open cockpits, there is surprisingly little to be seen of all the hard work detailing the interior.

I keep forgetting to take pictures as I progress ! This kit has loads of small parts, I've given up on some of them ! I seem to have spent hours working on the interior, really enjoying the build. Anyway, this is as far as I've managed to get....

that's a massive gun barrel, I don't normally build AFV's but this is really getting my interest up. If only I was better than rubbish at painting figures this would make a great diorama.

me too on both kits and the hornet looks great

not sure if this is in the right area of the forum to post this but it's great timing on the research posts for me as I was planning on purchasing and building a 1/32 FAA Corsair but have zero knowledge of this plane. I think in order to build a British aircraft from the current crop of modern kits the wing tips need trimming but other than that I'm clueless. What's the best kit to use as a starting point ? I've been looking at building a Corsair IV in dark blue with Far East roundels. Were there significant differences between Brit and US aircraft ? neil

looking good Phil, I couldn't do that harness, sausage fingers would get in the way !!! neil

I think it will be and I'm planning on it being a longish build that might need some quick shake and bake builds during the duration. I can't decide on aircraft scheme at the moment

it's moving forward, this is one of those builds where I'm finding I have to study the instructions a lot at the same time as test fitting. I've added the extra float strakes, amended the rudder device to represent that used by the RAAF and added the missing springs on the side of the pilot's seat that KH didn't include. I also saw in another build review that the pilots bulkhead had a round window in it which I've now added (not yet glazed). Interestingly KH marked the circular window on the pack side of the bulkhead. Just getting everything ready for a coat of interior green paint. I picked up the Eduard interior set as my painting of the IP and radio's wont be up to the task. Paint next, yippeee. neil

The Modelling News has posted pictures from the Shizuoka hobby show, some interesting stuff shown, I thought, not much in the way of new 1/32 aircraft a fair amount of stuff there of interest to me. Thought you might like the link if you haven't already seen it. neil https://www.themodellingnews.com/2023/05/tmn-on-tour-industry-day-shizuoka-hobby.html#more

that normally happens to me when red wine is involved !

I'm not sure, I think there were either DSG/EDSG over sky or the original USN blue over grey in British service.

I thought I'd start with the float as this has 2 out of three areas that I need to change (rudder connection and extra strakes on the lower back area of the float. I was hopping that to do some building however I never got that far ! I love KH kits as whilst they are modern they still provide the modeller with the opportunity to do some proper old fashion modelling. Given the main float consists of a small number of parts, I'm hoping this area contain all of KH's peculiarities for the entire kit. The connector pins are larger than their corresponding holes so a bit of widening needed and the flash on parts needs trimming back like on this wheel half where it sticks out beyond the wheel. The instructions call for PE parts that aren't included in the kit - PE21, there is a PE 16 but no 21 - luckily these aren't needed as the rudder needs to be amended for RAAF aircraft. Finally, the bottom of the float has 2 prongs sticking out for the catapult launch mechanism, the front one is there albeit not numbered on the spur so that took some working out however the back one is just not mentioned in the instructions even though the slot for it is present and the illustrations of the built up float in the instructions shows both. So far I can't find the part on the spur so that might need scratch building, again not an issue. It's modelling fun, hoping to actually stick some plastic together tomorrow ! neil

OK I'm in and hope I'll be alright timing wise as I am away for two and a half weeks between now and the end of June. Sorry it's another 1/32 KittyHawk Kingfisher. So far every 1/32 KH kit I've built has been enjoyable and the end results, particularly the Trojan built as a Fennec have been amongst my best. I'm hoping this will be similar. I am planning on building a RAAF aircraft in bare metal finish. To help I also managed this week to find on line an OOP book by Red Roo Models on Kingfishers in the Antipodes in a UK aviation bookshop so snapped that up. I'll be building A48-5 JE F from 107 Squadron RAAF based in SW Australia and used on anti submarine patrols. I'll need to tweak the kit in a few areas - extra strakes on the rear of the float to reduce spray, different rudder mechanism and braces added to the bomb racks to enable 250lbs depth charges to be carried in place of 100lbs. I'll need to source some decals but there's not a lot on them, no upper wing roundels were applied so just need underside, side and rudder standard RAAF markings and codes on this aircraft were all black. The history of these aircraft in RAAF and the war they fought is all new to me so I'm learning history as I build which is one of my favourite parts of the hobby for me. neil

wow, very impressive, I have sticking and painting envy big time ! neil

I have 2 on the go, Trumpy's 1/32 F-8 (as an F-8FN) and Eduards Bf108. The 108 is from the stash, I am focused on building and making a dent in this as much as I can this year. The F-8FN is from my shelf of doom. Nothing wrong with the kit but my nemesis in model building is not the building, I'm competent at that, it's the painting and finishing, where I am less so and I really struggle at times. This got stuck on the SoD due to the inability of the paint to flow correctly, sit correctly or cover anything properly. I applied so many coats and each one had issues I just gave up, I think it was too cold in my man cave for the paint. Anyway, it's got to this stage over the last couple of days, I just want it finished so it wont be a stunning work of art but it will be finished.

that looks amazing !

I looked at that, then I remembered by inability to be able to turn yellow paint into anything other than a see though translucent multiple layered shelf of doom subject and quickly moved on !

Sorry this is a list but not a wish list so forgive me. There are so many new 1/32 and 1/35 aircraft and helicopters being released I know I wont be able to "waste" the amount of money on them that my CFO will allow. I wondered what people were planning on buying this year. My list currently sits at, in order, the following however my more realistic and affordable list is the second one. I did look at the Devastator and I know there are lots of people who are desperate for this aircraft but....to my eyes visually it's got nothing going for it, it's a bit of a minger to me - sorry ! 1. Ideal buys - HS123, C202, F-35B, Val, Ka-29, British Apache, Havoc, ACH-37A, revell meteor, CH54. 2. what my pocket money will allow - HS123, C202, Val, Apache. I thought it would be interesting to see what the top three buys are planned to be across the forum (and I know I've only focused on flying things, there will be equally large list of floating a land based new releases). neil

thanks for posting, this is definitely my next purchase. I know very little about this aircraft but already can see the only sticking point will be which scheme to build. I think you are right Ernie, the green one is appealing. neil

ahh, a man with a new hat sits on an old chair, this could open up a whole new can of worms so I'll just stick to what I did. Spent all day today and yesterday with the TV off, listened to some fantastic music (alternated between alternative rock and classics) and used it as an excuse to paint the downstairs toilet, do some long over due gardening and spent many happy hours sticking bits of plastic together. The flightpath for London flypasess is normally right over the top of my house so spent around an hour and a half tracking the expected 70 plus aircraft on the app, watching them take off then spend an hour going around and around and around over the north sea only for them to suddenly all return to where they came from !!! Did see the red arrows zoom overhead but the free airshow was not as expected. Sticking bits of plastic together was exactly as expected and didn't disappoint !