By Michael Mass | 08.06.2024 12:03
The 1/32 Spitfire Mk. IXe No. 26 project from the 101st IAF squadron has finally been completed. The Pitot tube was added after the photos were taken. The base kit is the excellent Tamiya #60319, which includes magnets for removable upper and side engine fairings. The conversion to the Mk. IXe version involved replacing the main guns and the upper and lower service covers for the outboard 20mm guns.
By Allon Kira | 05.01.2024 11:10
By Allon Kira | 04.01.2024 11:31
By Gary Wickham | 09.27.2023 11:05
Eduard has recently released a new tooled Hawker Tempest Mk.V family in 1:48 scale. I have the Mk.V Series 1 ProfiPACK (82121) kit as well as the Big SIN (64856) set which includes a full Brassin Cockpit, Exhausts, Wheels and Landing Flaps. I also have some of the Barracuda Studios correction sets including the spinner and radiator intake. I'll highlight all these goodies (and compare them to the kits parts) as I progress through the build
By Jose Angel García Martin | 07.01.2022 17:38
The aircraft I’m representing here belonged to the Cyclons of the US Navy and I considered to build it due to its attractive camouflage even the radar cone what makes it very interesting for the modeler. Its yellow and sand colors weathering and “washes” were the final push that made me take the decision of choosing this version. My idea was to represent the aircraft in its first stages of the Ejercito del Aire. The aim of this tutorial is to share with the reader the work, with simple techniques and materials available to all, it can be easily reproduced by a less experienced modeller.
By Gary Wickham | 12.31.2021 10:52
I built the kit mostly from the box (as no aftermarket was available at the time). As the Drakens came to the end of their service life, the airframes started to look dirty and tired. I have attempted to capture this in the painting and weathering of my model. I hope this article will be useful for novices and advanced modelers as I made some mods and corrections to the kit showing how to do it.
By Allon Kira | 09.22.2021 13:57
The model is characterized by a good level of details and an excellent level of accuracy. The build was done without any special issues. I assembled it directly out of the box except for two minor additions: Eduard WWII seat belts for Japanese aircraft and Eduard canopy mask for A6M3 – EUEX318, although the kit included canopy masks, but I was not aware of the matter when ordering the kit.
By David Guardia | 10.02.2020 11:55
Eduard is characterized by making authentic jewels, both in aftermarkets and full kits. The 1/72 scale is being seen often, benefited with the appearance of models like this one. Inside the boxes called "profipack", which include masks and photo etches, we find kits with some exquisite pieces. The objective of this tutorial is to share my experience during the construction and painting of this model, with problems and solutions I found.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 07.09.2019 10:01
The kit was manufactured by the Ukrainian company, Roden and without doubt is the best Fokker Dr.1 kit in 1/32. Regrettably, it perpetuates some mistakes common to previous models of the Fokker Dr.1 because all of them have been based on Ian Stair's scale drawings published in the Fokker Dr.1 Special by Albatros Publications. These scale drawings, although are correct in dimensions, have some mistakes like the absence of the opening for the oil filling on the starboard side of the front decking and the lower panel where is located an access hatch to the engine and the incorporation of a detachable axle wing, correct for some versions of the Fokker D.VII, but not for the Dr.1 which its axle wing was fixed.....
By Gary Wickham | 01.24.2019 11:58
There has been quite a buzz around this release for one simple reason. Its a "Snap Tite" kit. Ok, so MENG refer to it as "Cement-Free Assembly" but whatever you call it, you are meant to assemble it without the need for glue. Normally this type of engineering is reserved for the basic, beginner style kits to make it easier for novices to construct their first model without making a mess with all that pesky glue. We have come to expect such kits to be very basic, often lacking detail with low part counts, to suite beginners.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 03.12.2018 11:28
I bought this kit years ago but, as usual, it ended up in the shelves close to dozens of boxes. However, someday I found a photo in a book, and I remembered where the kit was stored. When I opened the box, I could not put it away again.
By Fabrice Marechal | 02.16.2018 12:35
When I was asked to build the Italeri Mirage, I was really excited. I had dreamed since long ago with building and representing the weathering using new technologies on an aircraft. As some friends know, I’m colorblind and never could realize about the colors of an aircraft weathering. I used to build a lot of 1/72 Matchbox kits (some military vehicles) as a child , sometimes painting them. Anyway, nothing to do with the new techniques and besides, since the age of twelve, I’ve not touched a military kit.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 01.01.2018 12:04
As you probably already know, the Italeri kit is a reboxing of the Occidental kit. This kit was harshly criticized because it had some nose shape problems. I read in other web pages that the kit was fixed, but it wasn’t. However, this reboxing looks far better, with its stunning box art and large decal sheet, than the previous Occidental release.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 10.18.2017 12:59
In the air base of Zargoza located 270 km west of Barcelona and 262 km northeast of Madrid, took place the Tiger Meet 2016 which congregated many airplanes from different air forces that have some squadron of this kind. As it’s traditional for this meeting, the planes use to have special decorations that are always in reference to the “Tiger” . In this case, one of the most spectacular and attractive was the Mirage 2000 D belonging to the French L’Armee de l’Air, showing a beautiful tiger decoration in the fuselage and Spanish flags painted in the tail and wings. Just by looking at the pictures, I told myself “I have to do it one way or another”.
By Masa Narita | 10.09.2017 12:11
Building step by step….day by day. As soon as I looked inside this beautiful kit, I could not hold my horse. I had to stop other projects (1/35 Hetzer, 1/32 F-15J). I decided to build this kit straight from the box because I really wanted to see the completion as soon as possible. Also this time, I will update these pages while building the kit. So let's build this wonderful giant kit!!
By Claudio Kalicinski | 09.01.2017 11:45
The main reference I consulted to build this kit was the Grumman F7F Tigercat book (Vol 1y2) by Adam Jarski from AJ Press, but first of all I’d like to advise you to get rid of the tyres supplied with the kit since they have the strange quality of attacking the plastic, melting it just when coming into contact, so don’t keep them….you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 04.02.2017 17:27
As a modeler, I use to build civil vehicles, but well, building an airplane is not “a bad thing from time to time…”, and besides I don’t like to become immersed in only one specialty of static modeling. I’ve built aircraft from Monogram, Testors, Lindberg, Revell, Italeri, Heller, Airfix, Matchbox among others; but somebody recommended me about Hasegawa kits, which was all the rage among modelers....
By Claudio Kalicinski | 04.01.2017 17:47
The DeHavilland Mosquito was a British combat aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during the Second World War. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, uses of the Mosquito included: low to medium altitude daytime tactical bomber, high altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike and photo reconnaissance aircraft.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 03.12.2017 12:01
One of my favourite aircraft has always been the F4 Phantom. Since long ago, I wished I could make a 1/48 F4C of the Ejército del Aire (Spanish air force) but the kits available to carry out my project were too poor. It was then when this fabulous Academy kit that was the best fighter aircraft manufactured up to the moment appeared. I could not leave the opportunity of making my favourite aiplane of my beloved Ejército del Aire.
By Carlos Escobar | 12.08.2016 10:43
This is the Dragon kit probably packaged only by Italeri. There is no variation regarding to details, even plastic is the same color. There are no improvements and the same limited number of parts, what obliged me to work a lot to improve the model interior and exterior.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 04.13.2016 11:44
Only Tamiya offer several versions of the Bristol Beaufighter in 1/48 scale. Nevertheless, the only way to do the Mk.Ic is to transform and correct some minor errors starting from the Mk.IV that is the most similar. The kit itself is pretty good, there’s no significant differences with others of the same brand and scale, but the scarcely detailed cockpit and well wheels called my attention since are very visible and should be improved as much as possible.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 11.17.2015 11:00
The kit is Eduard’s Sopwith Triplane (8014). This is one of the earliest of Eduard's 1/48 offerings, dating from 1995, and was the first Eduard kit to not be a limited-run product. It is a mixed media kit and consists of injected molded plastic a large etched fret and a white metal engine and the early horizontal stabilizer, similar to the one used by the Sopwith Pup.
By Michael Capell | 04.01.2015 11:56
No sooner had I finished the Wingnut Wings Roland , than the Hansa Brandenberg out of its box, same day actually, and it is big. There is something about the Hansa that set it apart from other aircraft, even from a distance there is no mistaking it . Several other manufactures have produced it in smaller scales versions , but a combination of modern moulding techniques and Wingnuts reputation will set this one apart from the rest.
By Gabriel Stern | 03.01.2015 14:35
What exactly is -or was- a Caproni Stipa?. The simila similaribus curator principle of homeopathic medicine states -don't correct me if I'm wrong- that a similar substance heals a similar illness. Hence we can assume that Count Caproni, famed for his bias toward extremely "innovative" designs (do you, by any chance, know about his triplane hydroplane?) associated with Mr. Luigi Stipa in order to get cured. Did it work? We'll see.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 12.31.2014 11:46
On 1 January 1945, the Fw190 A-8/R2 piloted by Walter Wagner was hit by flak during the attack over St. Trond airfield. The engine died and had to make and emergency landing, and was captured by the USAAF. This aircraft had black/white/black RVT bands to JG 4 and the emblem of the fuselage unit. The aim of this article is to show the two-option scheme of one of the most famous aircraft of the Second World War, Fw190.
By Walter Silva | 10.14.2014 10:40
This Eduard kit can be compared with any Tamiya or Hasegawa release, dimensions of scale model are accurate if you take as reference the scale plans from Windsock Datafile Special "Nieuport Fighters Volume 1". It’s important to mention the detailed El Rhone engine and the three-piece figure the kit provides, something that can be used in dioramas.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 08.12.2014 11:09
This kit is a release from Eduard company (kit 8024) and represents the version used by the Royal flying Corps. The box supplies decals for two versions but I chose the one flown by Captain William Avery Bishop . This is a high quality kit which can be improved even more, a good help for this was the PE set from Eduard (48249). However, and due to the fact that Eduard used only one mold to release several versions of Niuport 17, some details typical of each version were omitted since each company equipped their aircraft in a different way, this is why the kit needed some changes, modifications and improvements.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 07.31.2014 12:06
First impression the kit produced me was pleasure. Zvedza had made a great work in their incursion to this scale. Perhaps the quality is not comparable with the last news of the more well known brands, but we are speaking about a kit fully detailed comprising 110 parts with excellent fit and the weak point is the lack of details regarding ASh-82 FN engine. Though this does not mean a problem, if we compare the excellent Karaya resin engine or just as I did, we leave all the access doors closed, and the engine will not be visible, of course.
By Mario Zagami | 06.11.2014 12:47
We are talking about the 1/48 Academy (#2179) Peashooter kit, comprises 89 parts one of which is the clear part. It also includes decals to build three versions: two of the 94th Pursuit Squadron 1935-36 and 19th Pursuit Squadron Hawaii 1940. Though it is not a “tamigawa” kit, it’s good, including basic details and appearing dimensionally correct. It offers high quality injection molded parts without flashes, featuring recessed panel lines. The following article describe the construction and improvement made in the kit in order to get an accurate and more detailed model.
By Gary Wickham | 04.01.2014 12:24
I have always liked the P-61. I've had a couple of the old Monogram kit in my stash for as long as I can remember, but never found the motivation to undertake the rescribing and correcting project needed to bring that model up to speed. Along comes the Great Wall Hobby P-61. The first boxing received some justified criticism for glaring errors. To the great credit of GWH they corrected almost all of the problems in the second boxing (the so called "glass nose" P-61A). To date GWH have not released a P-61B.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 03.28.2014 15:54
I’ve always been fond of “flying bicycles”, this is to say the old airplanes with propeller, but my favorite airplane is since long ago the F4 Phantom II. I decided to make this model to be presented to the Ejercito del Aire (literally Army of the Air) awards that every year organizes the Spanish Ministry of Defence. This is the only modeling contest which awards are endowed with 3000 Eur plus a commemorative plate, and let me also say that I was the winner in 2007 with a F104 G Starfighter also from the Ejercito de Aire.
By Michael Capell | 03.05.2014 10:20
If I had to choose my favorite aircraft from the WW1 era, it would have to the Albatros D.V. For me it has a certain character and design which makes it stand out from the crowd. Add the four different colour schemes included , with more on the way, makes it a must buy for the discerning modeller.
By Francisco Soldan Alfaro | 02.26.2014 10:48
Fortunately, this beautiful aircraft is on the market in 1/72 scale from Huma Models in the V103 version of the Ju288C. Another 1/72 kit, vacuum- formed and with perfect finish of the Ju288 A V3 had previously been released by Airmodel.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 12.31.2013 10:58
The kit offers two versions: the Italian of the 78 Squadriglia and the other is the Belgian fighter piloted by Willy Coppens who scored 37 victories flying Hanriots, becoming not only the maximum Belgian ace but also developing an especial expertise in shooting down enemy observation balloons. I decided to represent the machine piloted by Coppens in mid 1918. It’s a Hanriot HD.1 that belonged to the 9me escadrille “Le Chardon”
By Gary Wickham | 12.21.2013 12:13
The infamous Dragon P-51D in 1/32. This model was started before Tamiya announced their kit, and I have to admit that during this build I did consider scrapping it more than once. In the end, I am very glad I did not. Despite the challenges and limitations of this kit, I am very happy (and proud) of the end result.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 12.20.2013 10:48
Although the model is really nice, I decided to improve it a little bit by adding details that give the appearance of fragility unique of WWI airplanes. Also, I chose a very colourful machine, the one flown by Ltn. Ulrich Neckel while he was CO of the Jasta 6 in the last months of the war.
By Jorge Juarez | 12.04.2013 10:48
After having been withdrawn from the US Army, it was transferred to the Argentine Army arriving to the country on December 24th 1992 piloted by Lieutenant colonel Carlos Spika. It was assigned to the 603 squadron for pilots’ training purposes. Then, it was destined to the 601 Squadron, first operative unit of this airplane.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 11.10.2013 11:07
The aircraft that I have represented (SN 270434), has the peculiarity of having a great stain of white smoke that it can be seen from the exhaust to almost the tail, covering partially the fuselage red star. No other P-63 I have seen on photographs had this smoke stain so big. I started this model one year ago, although after a while working on it, I got tired and I moved it away for a while, until I found a picture with the white smoke stain that impressed me so much that I immediately took it up again.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 11.03.2013 10:44
Vought Corsair Mk.II 'Pacific Pirate' - sub Lt Don Sheppard, 1836 sqn, HMS Victorious, January 1945. Not all the Corsairs sported the USAAF markings during the Second World War. Lots of them fought with the Fleet Air Arm from the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious, Victorious or Formidable: they were the fearsome “Pacific Pirates”. And one of their best pilots, the Canadian Lt Donald J. Sheppard was the onlyone that achieved the As distinction with the Corsair, obtaining four of his five confirmed shoot downs from the Mk.II JT410 and his fifth one from the Mk.II JT537, 4th, 1945.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 10.08.2013 18:01
The Spad XIII is one of the most famous WW1 fighters as it was the main mount for many of France s top aces including Rene Fonck and Charles Nungesser as it was for many of the US aces including Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke.
By Michael Capell | 07.28.2013 12:14
Well who saw this coming? Right out of the blue Wingnut Wing enter centre stage with no less than four original releases and all in 1/32 scale, incredible . When this company first appeared last year there was no fanfare or announcements, they just open a first class web site and sat back to see what happens. I can imagine the enjoyment they got seeing the surprise and amazement this created. For this article I chose the SE 5 from the four models available, reason being this one is the simplest to build and paint.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 07.23.2013 10:35
The model represents a Sopwith Strutter built by Ruston, Proctor & Co. Ltd in 1917 and delivered to the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) on August 7th 1917. With a Clerget 9z 110hp powerplant was sent with the 43 Squadron to the Lozinghem aerodrome at Flanders, Belgium, for reconnaissance missions and ground attack (as the tactical marking, the triangle, indicates). After seeing service in Belgium, it returned to England on September 29th 1918. My goal when writing this article, is sharing with you my experiences in building a vacuform model and encouraging others to give one a try. Though many of us (modelers) have one or two vacuform among our kits to build, most seem to be reluctant to build those kits, in spite of the fact that they’re really good, comprising metal, etched and resin parts plus a good decal sheet.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 06.14.2013 13:27
This Project took me one year of work. The entire scheme was entirely painted without using any decal, and as I’m not an artistic painter, I didn’t use the airbrush. Everything was achieved alternatively as you’ll see.
By Gary Wickham | 05.16.2013 13:49
The glorious Tamiya P-51D in 1/32. This model was started immediately after I finished my battle with the Dragon P-51D. As you would expect there is no comparison between the two as this kit from Tamiya almost builds itself. Having said that, this is not a simple kit to build. It is overly complex in my opinion but I applaud Tamiya for giving us what will be for a long time to come the ultimate P-51 in any scale. The pilot figures are from Ultracast and Verlinden.
By Giulio Marrucci | 05.07.2013 12:10
The only kit available on market of this valuable chopper in 48th scale is from Academy. Nice kit, well detailed even if to obtain an exact replica is necessary to add some improvement, most of them in the interiors. The box content allows 5 different options to build this kit, 3 dedicated to the Navy and 2 to the Marines.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 03.27.2013 10:03
When I started to think about this project, I knew it would be a problem since there’s not a kit available in the market for the Mirage III EE I intended to build. Thus, I began looking for kits to be able to accomplish it, I also looked for seats, cockpit and so. Finally, I decided to use the Eduard Mirage IIIC and a transkit from Aconcagua Models.
By Giulio Marrucci | 03.22.2013 10:59
The “C” version of this glorious American medium bomber was the first to go into mass production with a number of modifications dictated by combat experience, following the “B”, famous for the Tokyo raid. The kit is the Accurate Miniature, dedicated to the B25 B’s belonging to the squadron of Doolittle Riders.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 03.16.2013 11:36
This articles aims at sharing with the reader, the work accomplished to build a model of the F-5A on service of the Spanish army of the air, using the old kit from Classic Airframes.This is not a kit for novices, in fact, I had to make many modifications and scratch, the fit of resin parts provided is not good and needs a lot of work to get an acceptable result. As always when I finish a model based on certain kit, appears a better one, anyway, I’m satisfied with the final result.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 02.28.2013 18:50
I decided to scratchbuild this plane after seeing the scale drawings by Mike Fletcher in his web site: The Nieuport Pages. I sent an E-mail to him and he kindly sent me pictures and larger resolution scale drawings. Once I enlarged the plans to 1/48, I noticed how big the plane was....
By Claudio Kalicinski | 02.08.2013 10:03
This Gavia kit was manufactured by Eduard, and reaches the quality and design of recent releases from both companies. The kit comprises two sprues of parts, there aren't a lot of them, but that doesn't mean the kit isn't detailed. The decals are in excellent register and are some of the thinnest that I have yet seen. Two different early Scouts “C” versions are provided, one being No. 1611, flown by Captain Lanoe Hawker on his VC flights and the other No. 1250, a machine of the RNAS, during 1915. This plane has the red and white roundels on the wings and the Union Jack on the fuselage sides. This last version is the one I decided to replicate.
By Walter Silva | 01.12.2013 10:03
This kit has been built almost completely out of the Special Hobby 1/48 box, The instructions look very nice, they appear to be well made, don’t seem to leave anything out and include a clear rigging diagram as well. The kit is well molded, comprising many resin parts, a fret of photo etched parts, and a piece of film to build all the neat looking instruments. It’s easy to build, just only the struts don't have correct length. Model builders will always appreciate Austro Hungarian army aircraft kit releases.
By Jose I. Hernandez Diez | 11.30.2012 20:51
I have always been completely captivated by this fantastic aircraft, and in late 2006, when I decided to assemble it, the only model available was the 1/48 Monogram's kit ( still the Kinetic and Italeri didn't have been issued). It's an old kit that shares parts with the A-6 Intruder, Monogram modified some parts and other were discarded. The raised panel lines the lack of details makes this kit as obsolete comparing with nowadays the industry offers. I had to deal with endless amount of errors I will talk about later in the article.
By Giovanni Galvan | 07.01.2012 10:00
The Grumman Avenger needs no presentation, being one of the most famous protagonists of the Pacific War. But until the 90’s, there was in 1/48 scale only an old Monogram toy-style model, until Accurate Miniatures released a “state-of-the-art” mold, which is still one of the best kits ever done. Now the mold is also released by Italeri, at lower price, and it’s very recommendable to all modelers.
By Mario Zagami | 04.01.2012 12:19
The old Hasegawa kit (#JT6), Supermarine Spitfire MK.Vb “ I.R. GLEED”, comprises 82 parts (28 are not used here) and a decal sheet for three different versions: 244 Wing Commander Ian R. Gleed; 40 (SAAF) Squadron 1943 North Africa and the 601 Squadron Royal Air Force Sicily 1943. It’s a good kit for beginners. This articles aims at sharing this kit construction with the not much experienced readers, using nearly no aftermarket (except for some things you will see later) which would mean a complicated building but adding small details with simple materials such as plastic, wire…etc.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 04.01.2012 12:01
For decades, the Drones were just remote controlled airplanes used as practice targets for anti-aircraft gunnery, fighters, etc. This article is based on the Hellcat Edward 1/48 profipack version comprising etched, resin parts and canopy masks.
By Michael Capell | 10.01.2011 12:04
Wingnut modellers could be considered as the hobby equivalent to Junkies, always looking for the next fix to sedate their plastic passion, and this particular kit delivers by the box full!. It's worth spending some time looking over the instructions, especially as there are options depending on which colour scheme you go for. This is one of the reasons I enjoy modelling aircraft from this period, colour, none of your dreary modern Grey stuff here!
By Michael Capell | 09.01.2010 19:37
Wait, I know what you are probably thinking, that this is a bi-plane and all that rigging is so hard to do. Before you skip to the next article let me have a chance to convince you otherwise. Eduard was the first company to combine photo etch parts with their top quality kits. Now they have gone a step further with introducing 'dual combo' kits to their range, basically two kits in one box. I suppose if you muck one up we have a spare!
By Jose Angel García | 06.01.2010 11:13
Here I bring you a model which I use to call “Bicycles with wings”, though in this case we are talking about a more modern aircraft than those considered as the aircraft pioneers. To my liking this is a pretty airplane and after the painting and decoration it’ll receive, will be superb.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 04.01.2010 10:54
The P-47 developmental history has been well covered so I will concentrate on the model it self. The model was built as a part of a project by some club members. It should have been a “straight from the box build” but my bad case of AMS attacked me again and I had to make some improvements.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 10.01.2009 10:51
The kit (8110) was made by the Czech company Eduard and as a "Profipack" release, it does include photo-etch details such as seat belts, machine gun fretted jackets, wing walks, radiator shutters, control horns and small interior details, along with a sheet of masks made in kabuki self adhesive paper.
By Jose Angel García Martin | 02.01.2009 12:27
Everybody knows the story of the battleship Bismarck sunken by one of those beautiful biplanes. Perhaps in the world of airplane model builders, this kind of airship are the most beautiful to replicate, I don’t say that the modern fighters are not admirable, but the complexity of the old biplanes due to the rigging, the wings assembly, the effects that pigments of that epoch caused on the fabrics they used, oil and fuel leakage…etc make these subjects an attractive alternative to build....
By Claudio Kalicinski | 09.01.2008 12:39
The machine I decided to depict was a Curtiss JN-4D trainer based at Love Field, Texas during 1918. A picture of this plane can be found at the Profile Publications book about the Curtiss JN.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 08.01.2008 15:41
The Eduard kit is one of the first releases from this brand (kit. 48007). It’s known as a “multimedia” kit since it includes not only white metal (engine) parts but etched and injection molded styrene parts such as: wing, both fuselage halves, elevators, rudder and cowling . This kit also includes a big fret of PE parts....
By Francisco Soldan Alfaro | 07.01.2008 11:59
I always wished to complete my collection of Fw190s, building a A8 Strum as they were modified, with the addition of the armour plates on the fuselage sides to combat the heavy bombers. This Tamiya kit was released years ago, nevertheless, it’s accurate with good fidelity of detail on the parts, and these parts assemble in a trouble free way.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 11.01.2007 11:32
The model represents the Nieuport 17 flown by Charles Nungesser while he was attached to the Escadrille Lafayette (Nº124) during July 1916. With this aircraft, Nungesser shot down an Aviatik reconnaissance aircraft over Seuzey, France on July 21st 1916....
By Juan Jose Dominguez Calvo | 09.01.2007 11:34
Several weapons systems received their baptism of fire during the Falklands War in 1982. One of them was the BAe Harrier. The international analysts didn’t have too much confidence in the aircraft, even some jocose comments such as that the Harrier was not capable of carrying a box of matches and hit the target on a football field. They were mistaken. As it was demonstrated, the aircraft fulfilled the expectations and became a referent of the CAS (Close Air Support).
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 08.01.2007 10:15
The flying bomb Fi-103 or V-1). The Me 262 W2 was materialized in the program “Heimatschutzer I “(homeland defender I). It was a rebuilt, Me 262 A-1a (W.Nr. 130186) with a Walter HWK 509 “cold” rocket engine on its tail. This last retained its Jumo turbojet engines under the wings. Finally, the W3 should have been powered...
By Giovanni Galvan | 05.01.2007 12:02
By Francisco Soldan Alfaro | 11.01.2006 12:49
What else can I tell you about the history of the beautiful Russian fighter that has not been said yet. However, it was difficult for me to make my decision about the camouflage, since the MIG 3, like is not usual with others WWII Soviet aircrafts, offers several options. Finally, and after looking at references pictures and bibliography, I decided to build the MIG 3 “Red 39” belonging to the famous 120 IAP (Istrebitel’niy Aviapolk, or Fighter Regiment) based on Vnukovo, and was part of the 6 GIAK-PVO in Winter 1941-1942. It was a real challenge for me to get the faded and weathered effect on the winter camouflage, since they were painted in a casein based paint. Then, I had to make it look real showing the result of the fume exhausts and hard weather conditions.
By Le Thanh Tung | 06.01.2006 14:42
Speaking about on board aircrafts, the Prowler is one of subjects that has captured my attention, and as such, it has always looked worn as result of the missions and due to the long periods staying in the open sea. This note offers a step by step assembly of the Hasegawa kit according to references pictures. Le Tanh Tung, this note's author lives in Vietnam, his first language is neither English nor Spanish, so the texts may seem raw, though to the best of my knowledge and belief this is a very valuable article from a technical point of view, inexperienced modelers will find it useful, indeed!.
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 04.01.2005 10:18
Willy Messerschmit's company was one of the most important fighter suppliers for the Luftwaffe and it is no wonder that the number of projects there, was very large. Many versions of existing aircrafts, and specially of the famous Me 262 Schwalbe, were developed in their design bureau..... In several articles written by...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 02.01.2005 11:41
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow), was the first operational jet powered aircraft. It was mass-produced in World War II and saw action from late 1944 in bomber/reconnaissance and fighter/interceptor roles. The Luftwaffe began committing this remarkable aircraft to combat when air defence squadrons were...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 09.01.2004 11:40
If you want to build this model, you will need to get the ANT-06 Antaresmodels conversion and an Arado 234 in 1:48 scale. The set was developed for Hobbycraft kits, but it can be used on Hasegawa’s Ar 234 ( or on its re-pop, the Revell Germany ones), despite that at the time of releasing the conversion set these last...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 07.01.2004 14:01
Without any doubt, the most advanced and radical Focke Wulf design in World War II was the Triebflugel. In the actual language of modern aeronautics, Focke Wulf’s “Triebflugel” ( driving wing) projects would be called a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)...
By Mike Parr | 05.01.2004 11:04
By Pablo Calcaterra | 03.01.2004 11:06
Several months ago I received this kit as a present. Though at first I was not interested in this plane, the challenge was strong so I decided to go ahead with the project. It was going to be my first kit in resin. The box is very good and the kit is a multimedia one, with pieces made of different materials, like copper, plasticard, etc. Everything is individually packed and the placed inside the box which has bubble plastic film.
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 01.01.2004 10:31
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 12.01.2003 11:29
"How the hell am I going to handle this monster? ….There is no other crew except me …!!" This was the first impression of the Feldwebel Rudi Riedl, in his first encounter with a Mistel composite. Riedl was a blind-flying instructor of the Jagdfliegerschule (fighter pilot school ), located in Stolp-Reitz, a German pilot school specialized in training its members on attacking special targets....
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 10.01.2003 14:13
During the Second World War, the German aircraft designers put forth many aircraft projects ideas, which ranged from the practical to the bizarre. In my opinion, the case of the Me 262 Lorin is one of these last. Despite of its fantastic space ship look, the idea of mounting the ramjets above the wings of the aircraft was found impractical, because of high fuel ...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 09.01.2003 14:08
The Fw 190 TL ( Turbo-Lader Strahltriebwerk - Turbocharger jet engine ) was one of the earliest Focke Wulf projects. This design comprised a simple centrifugal engine of Focke Wulf´s own design, fitted in late 1942 to a standard 190 fighter, instead of the BMW 801 piston engine. The new engine comprised a two stage centrifugal...
By Mike Parr | 09.01.2003 10:55
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 08.01.2003 11:37
Does this fantasy spaceship look vaguely familiar to you?..look again……Yes!! It's a Me 262!!.. Even since I read the book "Me 262" ( edited by MBI Publications) several years ago, I've been interested in all Me 262 projects. One of the most interesting was the W1...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 07.01.2003 14:04
Como ha ocurrido con otros proyectos alemanes , conocidos como Luftwaffe 1946, el Focke Wulf Fw 190 también fue objeto de estudios y desarrollos a fin de estudiar la configuración de "alas de halcón". Este tipo de ala era un diseño realmente novedoso para la época, ya que presentaba una pequeña...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo | 05.01.2003 11:34
Building this odd-looking model in 1:48 scale is really exciting and complex at the same time. Exciting, because we will have a very unusual model on our shelf. Complex, because it's necessary a general planning before starting to build this huge model. We shouldn't forget that this one is a combination of a land...
By Mike Parr | 10.01.2002 11:00
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
This model was released by Dragon in 1993, which made a re-pop of the original kit, manufactured by Trimaster, a Japanese company which is nowadays out of the market. Dragon deleted some white metal parts from the original kit, like the cannon barrel, and replaced them with plastic parts. Anyway, the kit is very good according to Dragon’s usual quality.
By Giovanni Galvan
During the war, the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand), after a symbolic resistance, agreed a collaboration with the Japanese, which was more or less half hearted. During that period Japan sold some fighter airplanes to Siam, to substitute the old US planes such as the Hawk and the B-10. These planes were mainly old Ki-27 Nate, but in 1944 were released a number of more modern Ki-46 Series I and II. Some Internet friends sent me some rare photos of the Siamese Oscars, which inspired me to make this very exotic example.
By Jorge Juarez
The model here represented is the Dagger C-401 which was manufactured on November 14th 1971, arriving to Argentina on November 26th 1978. On June 8th 1982 it took part in the attack on the Type 12 Rothesay Class frigate (F-126) “HMS Plymouth” at Bahia Agradable....
By Giovanni Galvan
By Juan Jose Dominguez Calvo
By Giovanni Galvan
The famous Bf.110 “Zerstörer”, in spite of being frequently described as a fiasco for the Luftwaffe, wad widely used on all fronts, and in almost all roles until the end of the war. One of the most peculiar episodes of its use was the help to the revolt in Iraq against the British in 1941. During the short duration of this local war, Italy and Germany sent some air units to help the rebels, via the Vichy’s Syria. That’s why we can see many Fiat CR.42s or Bf.110s with hastily applied Iraqi insignia, now famous for decidedly more recent wars.
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Claudio Kalicinski
By Dave Atkin
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
The Gotha Company had no experience in fighter design, having specialized in transport aircraft and gliders, and during WWII, it developed only one, albeit very interesting night fighter project known as P.60. This aircraft was in response to Horten brothers...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
Developments of the Fw190 had been under consideration even before it entered on service with combat units for real. The first projects consisted in fitting more powerful engines, including some that were at an early stage of development. It was planned to fit...
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Juan Jose Dominguez Calvo
By Jorge Juarez
By Juan Luis Herranz
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By the end of 1944, a large diversity of variants had been proposed for the Me 262. One of the most important projects resulted from efforts to increase the maximum speed, mainly improving the airframe aerodynamic shape. Aircraft concepts known as the...
By Leslie Choy
By Giovanni Galvan
By Osvaldo Viggiani
By Hernan Casciani
By Giovanni Galvan
By Julian Herrero
By Gustavo Nuñez
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Ricardo Dacoba
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Gustavo Nuñez
By Fabian Vera
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Hernan Amalfi
By Mike Parr
By Giovanni Galvan
By Pablo Calcaterra
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Alfonso Martinez Berlana
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Alfonso Martinez Berlana
By Ricardo Dacoba
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Alfonso Martinez Berlana
By Alfonso Martinez Berlana
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
Several months ago I was talking with Mario, the editor, and he asked me if I'd be interested in building, a Focke Wulf Ta 183 in 1/48 scale, to be published in Modeler Site. So I've always wanted to build a Huckebein, I said " of course…yes!!!" The kit was sent...
By Orlando Rueda
By Fabian Vera
By Pablo Calcaterra
By Mike Parr
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Mike Parr
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Mike Parr
By Fabian Vera
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Mike Parr
By Pablo Calcaterra
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
Yes, I know, the Fishpot series of the Sukhoi Air Defense fighters of the former USSR remains unknown for most of the modelers. This series was a evolution from the famous Fitter ground strike family (Su-7 and the swing wing Su-17 / 20 / 22), in fact both of the versions have common sections, as the fuselage, tail planes, and similar fins. The delta wing characterize the Su-9 and Su-11 (NATO code Fishpot), which was inherited to the later Su-15 Flagon, a similar concept twin engined interceptor.
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Mike Parr
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
In early 1944, the design office of Willy Messerschmitt’s company put forward a proposal for a rocket-boosted version of the Me 262. This had the Walter HWK 509 A-2 rocket engine mounted in a jettisonable fairing beneath the fuselage. This proposal was further..
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Jorge Juarez
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
German engineers studied, through several experiments carried out during the WWII, all possible configurations for towing conventional aircraft assembled to form a composite flying machine. This was the original idea for the Mistel composite. But the....
By Jan Visser
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Juan Carlos
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giulio Marrucci
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Mario Covalski
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
During the Second World War, the German aeronautic industry developed a great number of prototypes and experimental planes; sometimes, they did not materialized due to all kinds of indecisions and interferences. Some of this German projects were very advanced, taking into account the technological point of view...
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Juriga Toma
By Pablo Raggi
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Giovanni Galvan
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
By Luigi Cavazza
By John Horst
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giulio Marrucci
By Giulio Marrucci
By Giovanni Galvan
By Thomas Halvarsson
By Giulio Marrucci
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
Major Wolfgang Späte (born 8 September 1911 in Dresden – died 30 April 1997 in Edewecht) was German World War II Luftwaffe 99 victories Flying ace. Serving with Jagdgeschwader 54 on the Eastern front, Jagdgeschwader 400 and Jagdgeschwader 7 in Western Europe, he is credited with the destruction of 99 enemy aircraft shot down in over 600 combat missions. He claimed five confirmed victories with the Messerschmitt Me 262.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo
Even though the Spitfire was the British pride during the Wordl War II, it was used by the allies in all war fronts, from Russia to the Reich or North African desert. These Spits were mainly differenced by the bigger air-filter adoption, in order to keep the wonderful performance of the Merlin engine in the desert climate. As well as changing its dress for a more favourable one to fight over the sand.
By Jose Angel García Martin
During the Spanish Civil War, there was a manufacturer of Polikarpov I-16 in Alicante (La Rabasa) which production line was set up by the Republicans. They didn’t use the original drawings but they had to copy from the parts of the airplanes sent from the URSS. When the War ended, the tools and airplanes in different assembly stages were moved to a wines cellar in Jerez de la Frontera, the Gonza0lez- Byass’ (source Juan Arraez), creating in this way the “Taller Experimental del Aire” with the direction of Frigate Captain Luis Arias Martinez, naval engineer.
By Jose Angel García Martin
The subject of this article is the Bf-108 Taifun from Eduard in 1/48 scale “profipac” with PE included and as all the kits from this manufacturer is superb. As I usually do, nearly always start with a simple project but finish overcomplicating things, thus I first thought to cut the nose to leave the engine visible but changed my mind and decided to build my model out of the box. Nowadays there are still several aircraft flying, very appreciated by their pilots due to their quality. The plane I want to represent here, belonged to the Royal Yugoslav Air Force.
By Michael Capell
You may recall the SE5 I built several issues ago, really to get a feel for the larger scale Wingnut kits as I normally deal with 1/48 in the past . This was followed shortly after with the Sopwith Pup, just to make sure ( any excuse will do). So now I had the confidence to tackle what I consider their 'flag ship' of the present range namely the LVG C.VI.
By Michael Capell
Looking at the kits plans the rigging looked daunting to put it mildly. Not only that but there is also additional rigging on the top wing as well, oh dear!
We all know of Wingnuts much deserved accolades so instead of repeating how good they are lets deal with rigging which modelers seem to dread. Building biplanes are a passion for me and rigging in particular. So let me show you what can be achieved.
By Jorge Juarez
By Fausto Muto
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Claudio Kalicinski
As you probably know, the Smer kit is a reboxing of the old Heller kit. It’s very basic (as was the real aircraft itself) and molded in a rather soft light grey plastic. As you might expect from a kit of this era, the panel lines are all engraved, but a bit heavy and the fabric surfaces were represented by an inaccurate very rough surface. A bit of sanding will cure that.
By Giulio Marrucci
By Giulio Marrucci
By William Chan
By Claudio Kalicinski
By Gabriel Stern
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
The "Corsair", considered the best World War II naval fighter by many, served admirably not only in its country of origin but also in many other nations. Argentina was one of the countries to use this airplane. Though Argentina intended to buy AD1 or AD3 Skyraiders, the ban imposed by the USA prevented the purchase by the Argentine government from being performed and finally, a larger number of F4U in different versions were bought: the 5, 5N and 5NL. These airplanes served in the Argentine Navy from mid-1957 to the end of 1965.
By Giovanni Galvan
By Gabriel Stern
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
During World War II, the German aeronautics industry conceived a great number of prototypes and experimental airplanes that, time and again; did not materialize due to politic intrigues, indecisions and all kind of interferences. Some of their proposals were really advanced from a technological point of view. In spite of a generous...
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Mike Parr
By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
A number of advanced follow-on to the Heinkel He 162 A were considered. This aircraft was also used as the basis of possible designs powered by pulsejets engines; thus, He 162 A-10 and A-11 appeared on the drawing boards of German engineers.
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Mike Parr
By Giovanni Galvan
By Giovanni Galvan
By Fabian Vera
By Fabian Vera