Tho I have a few more WIPs on the table. I'm going to call it for the building this year Thanks for looking.

Merry Christmas all! Just recently I finally brought my two B-2 Stealth Bombers across the finish line thus allowing me to reach another Milestone. Without further ado, here they are: Number 499 in my 1/72 scale aircraft collection: Testor's 1/72 scale B-2 Stealth Bomber BuNo 21066, which are the original kit decals issued: Number 500 in my 1/72 scale aircraft collection: Testor's 1/72 scale B-2 Stealth Bomber "Spirit of Missouri" which are the decals issued at the 2006 IPMS National Convention: And just to prove that I'm not posting the same aircraft, here are the two of them side by side: Those are some big boys! Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome!

Merry Christmas to all. This is one of the models I finished recently., being launched from the shipyards this past Monday. This is the Hasegawa 1/700 scale Hikawamaru passenger liner: It was a kit I picked up for a buck in our Distressed Kit Auction so it went together fast. Thank you for looking in, comments are welcome.

I built this electronic version of the S-3 Viking with a Black Box resin interior, Paragon resin wing folds, and the Metallic Details resin/PE engine set. Here's the BB resin cockpit painted and installed. It fit better than any other resin cockpit I've ever used on a model! Note that it's actually an S-3A/B cockpit and the main IP isn't accurate for the ES-3A electronic cockpit; but who can see under that dark tinted canopy? Even so, I did install only one of the control sticks to be more accurate for this version. The ram air intake in the tail fin was just a hole in the kit, so I used some of the tubing seen there, capped off with a punched plastic disk to create an intake duct. Using the Paragon resin wing folds involves major surgery and some heavy sanding to blend them into the wings. You do need to be careful also not to break off the small disks that do extend a bit higher than the folds on the top side, though they're not as fragile as they look. This the Metallic details resin and PE engines set, partially assembled. The instructions take careful study as they don't show clearly all of the casting areas that need removal. However, once you start trying to test fit things you'll figure out there's more to be done! The resin parts fit together VERY well! The advantages offered using this set are the realistic fan blades that you can actually see through ala the real engine, circular intake housings with no seams to sand, and they and their pylons all fit so well to the model I was able to paint them and decal them separately and then add them to the model after painting and decaling the fuselage. This pic of the left engine shows just how amazing the finished product looks! The markings came from a CAM decal sheet. The model was pre-shaded with black lines before painting the overall Light Ghost Gray scheme and then all panel lines were done with a pencil. On to the rest of the pics! The only other anomaly on this kit was the need to add 25+ antennas of various shapes, sizes, and types in various spots! The kit instructions require a bit of study to be sure to get them all in the right spots. This is #21 for this year and I'm going to try to slide yet one more quick build in just under the wire in the coming week! Critiques, questions, and comments welcome as always! Gil

After some long marathon sessions as shown in the Maddog Manufacturing thread; I was able to finally complete a model I've wanted since I was nine years old. It's not perfect, but it's mine and it's done! I present to you this model of the Budweiser Clydesdale Eight Horse Hitch: Closeup of the wagon itself: The base of this model is close to 32" long, it is a very long model. I have it on temporary display at my Church's Christmas Festival in their Tavern; after all, a tavern needs a beer wagon doesn't it? Later it might take up permanent residence at the Knights of Columbus hall where we hold our Hobby Days behind their bar since I don't really have room for it at home unfortunately. Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

The Russian company Gran made these as the "S-200 Angara." Anybody got one they wanna trade/sell...? Thanx for looking!

Greetings, Can someone tell me which IPMS email/entity to contact about a technical issue? The chapter contact email for our chapter (eagle_squadron@ipmsusa.org) will not properly forward to my personal email address due to a “304” error - “Sender rejected.” “The sender's address is rejected for policy reasons.” Apparently the domain is being rejected by EarthLink because of Sender Policy Framework issues at the sender’s end and this is something that needs to be changed from the sender’s domain. I have received emails in the past, so something changed. Thank you, Lee Griffin (8075) Eagle Squadron Chapter Contact

After building the B-57B Canberra (can be seen below in this topic area) I decided to build the first version used by the USAF in the late '50s, the earlier RB-57A with the "fishbowl" canopy and clear recce nose. This is the Falcon 1/48 vacuform kit released back in the mid '80s and you can look at the full build of the kit up in the "Builds" topic area if you want to see all the nitty gritty details. The interior is a combo of scratchbuilding and spare parts, the wheel wells and tires are resin aftermarket, and the landing gear legs scratchbuilt. The NMF is mostly Tamiya rattle can TS-30 over gloss black enamel with some Alclad Aluminum for varying panels. The squadron trim colors were masked and painted with the rest of the markings coming from spare Canberra sheets and the spare decals box. On to the rest of the finished pics! I believe the Falcon vac is the only way to get a "fishbowl canopy" Canberra in 1/48 except for a Lone Star resin conversion for the Airfix kit, which I think is out of production. This completes #19 for the year.... well except for 2 small squadron insignia decals I'm waiting for in the mail that go on each side of the fuselage. On to #20! Questions, critiques, and comments welcome as always! Gil

I picked this up at Scale Model World. It's the 1980 release of the original 1971 kit. The Prince Henry has been called the first sports car as it was developed for a race in Germany sponsored by a Prince Henry. It proved to be so reliable with for the day excellent performance that Vauxhall decided to make a commercial version of it. The kit has all the limitations of a 70's kit, but went together surprisingly well. It's done almost OOTB here but I suppose if you wanted to you could add an engine as the chassis is pretty well detailed and could accept one relatively easily. The 'almost' reflects the fact that in all those years it sat on a shelf or was carted around by some vender only one small part, a headlight lens, got lost despite the box have two holes in the top. I replaced both headlights' lenses with ones made from clear acetate.

Willie Ley was a sci-fi guy back in the 50's and he 'designed' many space vehicles for various sci-fi mags. He drew national attention and some of his "designs" made appearances on major media outlets such as Disney with his moon rocket, which became the center piece of Tomorrowland in Disneyland. This is the Atlantis re-release of his Orbital Rocket. The kit came in two versions differing only in the space plane. It also seems that Mr. Ley stole a march on Mr. Trump and created a "Space Force" way back then. The decals include markings for this and I incorporated them into my version of his rocket. I also used some markings from my spares drawer. The kit is tough to get together without gaps and seams as there are many "working" parts, such as removable fuel tanks, etc, so much putty and some shimming is required, but it is a prototypical 1950"s space ship model and looks kind of cool on the shelf. I painted it in what might appear to be a more 'modern' scheme.

I just finished up the Revell "Everything is Go! kit and I would really like to put an IndyCals capsule on it. I have one on the Revell 1/110 Mercury/Redstone that I finished a few years ago. I really like the look of that capsule. IndyCals used Shapeways for their printer, and the capsule on the IndyCals site is still linked to Shapeways. I reached out to IndyCals, but have not received a response. Does anyone have one in their stash that they would like to sell or does anyone know of a new 3D print that's available? Thanks!

This latest kit is an offering from Fantastic Plastic. It is the Alpha & Omega Doomsday Missile seen at the end of the 1970 film Beneath the Planet of the Apes. In the first "Planet of the Apes" sequel, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1970), the stranded human astronauts find a community of mutant humans living in the ruined subway system of the former New York City. Their ancestors having survived the nuclear apocalypse that destroyed the surface world, they reverently worship one of the last remaining artifacts of that bygone time -- a "Doomsday Bomb" bearing the ominous "Alpha-Omega" symbol. The kit is 12 parts in 1:24th scale. It looks much taller than it's 12" height. It is all 3D printed with all the attachment points cleaned off, but I gave it a light sanding anyway. It's not often that you get a garage kit. Leave all the parts in the box, shake it and it builds itself. This IS one of those kits. According to FP, it's a simple mock-ICBM (albeit it scaled down for filming purposes) with added fuselage texture and a pair of fins, the missile also has a weird hook on its upper body, its only function that of an easy point where the invading ape army can latch their ropes and bring the doomsday weapon crashing to the ground. Looking at the missile and the hook, there's no way it would last 10 minutes before I accidentally break it off, so into the parts box it went. And in one day the model was done. Next I started looking at the painting. The instructions says it's a golden color. But looking at the screen grabs of the movie (image above), it looked more to me like a silver or chrome with some orange tarnish on it. Since it's my model that's the way I'm going. I got out my trusted Rustoleum Chrome paint and gave it a shot. Looks great. I left it for a few days for the chrome to cure, and then hit with with a thinned sepia wash. That did little to nothing, So I decided to give in a little and added a mist coat of a gold from Vallejo. Adding a little more at the bottom I was happy with the result. while I was letting this last paint coat cure, I had to address the decals. FP uses an excellent printer, but being so thin, it needs a coat of Microscale's Decal Film. While the decal film is drying, I decided it's a good time to take break and think about the base. The kit comes with a small diameter 3D printed base, but I was thinking more of something like the set in the film. Check back for that soon. Thanks for looking.

Am posting for a friend who has an Italeri MBZ and an Italeri Opel Blitz that he is willing to give free for the asking. If you are interested call Jim at 909-335-3172. this is a land line so no texting, please. Kits are open but appear to be complete. Charlie IPMS 39729

Started and finished in the same calendar year! This is the Special Hobby kit, which is the basis of a bunch of Griffon-powered Spitfire kits. I took off the Seafire-specific features (the RATO attachments, primarily) and detailed the cockpit with Special Hobby's own photoetched set, plus a Barracuda Studios control column. The exhausts are from Quickboost and the wheels and from Barracuda Studios. I used the kit decals to build Roy Cruickshank's N0. 91 Squadron aircraft in which he was shot down by flak on April 10, 1945; he and his wingman were rescued by a USAAF OA-10 Catalina. Only 120 Mk. 21s were built - it debuted the new laminar flow wing, full wheel covers and a retractable tail wheel. The paints were ModelMaster dark green and ocean grey, with Floquil medium sea grey, all from my Museum of Extinct Paints (aka Evidence I Used to Habitually Overpurchase at the Hobby Shop). It was weathered with oils - I tried to keep it light since the plane didn't last more than three missions.

Hello all! These were finished at the beginning of the month, but I've had no chance to post them until now. Here are the latest ships to be launched from our Shipyards: Airfix 1/600 scale British heavy cruiser HMS Tiger: Trumpeter 1/700 scale French Battleship Jean Bart: And that's all for now. Hopefully more will be finished soon. Thank you for looking in and comments are welcome

While I'm on my "Canberra kick" and since it's been a while since I posted a full build ride-a-long, I thought I'd show how this model was being thrown together. The Falcon vac Canberra kit was made @1984, long before the Classic Airframe and Airfix kits were available. It's actually designed so you can build an RB-57B with the "fishbowl canopy" (my plan, and as shown in the drawing) or a B-57B with the tandem seating and traditional long canopy. In this pic the parts have already been removed from their backings and sanded down. Also, on the far left you can see that I had to stack and superglue two concentric cones together to make the engine intakes for each wing. The smaller parts with a "E" on them are the exhaust fairings for each wing. There was one unplanned complication due to this kit sitting in my stash for almost 40yrs..... The parts were on 3 sheets of plastic. It seems that the one sheet that faced out and was exposed to the most light through its plastic baggy turned a bit brown and also became somewhat brittle after all those years! If you look very closely at the wing bottom (2nd from the left) you can see a crack where the it broke in two while I was trying to flex it off of the backing. There were also smaller cracks along the edges that have complicated the build more than anticipated, but nothing superglue cannot overcome! The 2 pics above show a couple of interior circular bulkheads added to strengthen things as well as the wing spars made to make the wing attachment more secure. The tail spar is simply a piece of sheet plastic bent to shape. The thin strips of sheet plastic added under the long fuselage seams in an alternating manner can also be seen. These enable the fuselage to be fitted together and prevent the thin edges from sliding under each other. The resin nose gear well is from an aftermarket set made for the Airfix kit. I've also roughed out the opening for the fishbowl canopy and sawed off the solid nose in prep for the clear recon nose. These 2 pics show the test fitting of the assembled wings and tail planes to the fuselage as well as checking the sit of the model on its gear. The resin gear bays in the wings are aftermarket parts with some modification to the main gear leg holes so that my scratchbuilt gear legs will fit into them. At this point the gear legs are just basic parts without any of their detailing or actuators added yet. And yes.... the is a HUGE nose weight sitting in the fuselage to get that model to balance on its gear! Time to start working on the cockpit! Interestingly, the RB-57A was either a 3 seat arrangement (when designed and used by the Brits) or a 2 seat arrangement after being bought by the USAF in the late 1950s. Also, after some research, it seems that the USAF RB-57As COULD have a small window on each fuselage side behind the pilot or it might not, and it appears to be entirely random and arbitrary. So..... why cut and add windows if I don't have to? Also, why build anything behind the pilot's cockpit if it can't be seen anyway? On to the pics! The RB-57A appears to have had some sort of lining inside the fuselage, so I grabbed some fabric from my spares box and cut it to fit in each fuselage half. I used some sheet plastic and spare resin and plastic parts to add some detailing here and there. The wiring is all lead solder wire. Note the large fishing sinker that has been flattened with a hammer and added for nose weight as well as the support for the cockpit floor. The cockpit floor was made from sheet plastic. Its shape was attained through some judicious measuring as well as simple trial and error until I got what was wanted and needed. Note that the side console, main instrument panel, and other details are all spare resin parts. I cut and bent the main IP to give it the RB-57A's distinctive bend. I also added punched plastic discs for the instrument housings on the back of the panel as well as their cables made from more lead wire that was twisted together and routed over and down out of the way; all of which is visible from above through that big fishbowl canopy. Spare PE panels flesh out the side console. The rest of the cockpit parts are all from the spares box, as is the resin ejection seat. And last, note that the entire cockpit is offset to the left to allow for passage from the rear cockpit area all the way into the nose. Test fitting it all into the fuselage....... This should be enough to satisfy any prying pen light once it's all painted, although it's technically incomplete (without the rear cockpit section) and only "ballpark" accurate! This pic shows the addition of the engine intake housings and the exhaust fairings to the wings. As you might expect, their fit was marginal requiring some epoxy putty (Apoxysculp) to blend them in and eliminate steps. There's a home cast engine fan face in the rear of each intake and you can see the separate shock cones made for each one, designed so they can be added at the end of the build. The shock cones came from the spares box, but I did have to shorten them and use Apoxysculpt to give them their "bullet" noses. The exhausts each have some plastic hypo-tubing to give them some depth as well as a spare parts flame dampener up inside each; again just to satisfy any probing pen lights! Except for having primed the wings, that's where things stand as of today. Next up is to paint the cockpit parts and then assemble the fuselage, which I hope to have done by the end of the week. More pics when more significant progress has been made. Questions, comments, and critiques welcome, as always! Gil

In a rather surprise move IMHO a manufacturer has come up with a cryptid scale model. Earlier this year, Pegasus Models has released the Mothman.

This next build is the Hasegawa 1/48 scale A-4M Skyhawk. I chose this particular build for a couple of reasons. I have already built a few aircraft related to the “Blacksheep” Squadron and since November 10th was the U.S. Marine Corp 250th Birthday I decided this would be a proper build. I will be using Eduard’s photo etch detail set and Cutting Edge Decals . The A-4M Skyhawks Part 2 set CED48194. The kit also comes with decals for VMA-214 but I had purchased the Cutting Edge set prior to buying this kit so the decals may end up being a mix of kit and aftermarket decals. As usual the first section to be built is the cockpit. The ejection seat was the first to be tackled. The kit seat is six parts but the photo etch detail set has twenty five parts. After removing the kit levers and handles I replaced these with the photo etch replacements and painted the seat. I added the seatbelts and warning placards to finish off the ejection seat. The instrument panel was sanded down smooth and the photo etch sections were installed. I used clear gloss paint for the gauges and displays to replicate the glass faces. For the cockpit tub I sanded down the side panels and replaced them with the photo etch ones. The kit pedals were cut off and replaced with the photo etch versions. The control stick, instrument panel, and pedal assembly were installed completing the cockpit. I then prepared the inside of the fuselage for the cockpit area. I still need to detail the nose wheel bay and the rest of the inside of the fuselage and engine area before I can close up the fuselage. I am hoping to have the fuselage closed up by the end of the week. You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-a-4m-skyhawk-vma-214/

This is the out-of-production CollectAire resin B-57B Canberra built OOTB. The starting point...... this is one of CA's better kits with hollow cast wings and fuselage and very smooth cast resin parts with no warpage. It also has metal landing gear to support the model, which is certainly needed because it takes a LOT of nose weight to counter balance that long rear fuselage and tail. Being an OOTB build the only thing added was tape seat belts. The finish is Tamiya TS-30 sprayed over a base of gloss black enamel with MM International Orange trim and painted fuselage stripes. The markings were cobbled together from various B-57 sheets and spare letter/number decals. On to the rest of the pics! Critiques, comments, and questions are welcome, as always! Gil

These are 1/700 scale resin kits produced by Ralph Ratcliffe during the 1990's. They represent the Sturgeon class SSN 637, the early 688 Los Angeles class, the later 688I (Improved) class, with bow planes in place of sail planes, VLS hatches for the Tomahawk missiles, a ring propeller to protect it for under ice operations, and stern anhedrals for stability and housing countermeasure launchers. The final submarine is the USS Seawolf, lead ship of what was planned as 29 new SSNs. The hull diameter was increased from 33 feet (688 class) to 40 feet, and equipped with a pump jet propulsor. The Seawolf class hull was constructed of HY-100 steel rather than the previous HY-80, and this increased the test depth of the Seawolf class. The Seawolf weapons load out was much increased and 8 torpedo tubes fitted over the previous 4 of the LA and Sturgeon classes. With the end of the Cold War, the Seawolf program was drastically curtailed. The only Seawolf class submarines completed were SSN-21 Seawolf, SSN-22 Connecticut, and the modified SSN-23, Jimmy Carter.