MiG-21MF Arlette P-47D

African Miranda
Red Flag Warrior Correa
Buccaneer

Revell’s
1:48 B-25D
Mitchell Mexican

Spitfire
Vol 20 Iss 01 £4.95
JANUARY 2021
Printed in UK

Expanded Manual – Harrier GR.3

History
Colour Profiles
Step by Step Build
Scale Plans
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Model by David Parker
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Harrier GR.3s were
fitted with AIM-9
Sidewinder AAMs for
use in the Falklands
Vertical Reality
W
ell, who could have predicted
the year we have had at the
outset of 2020! But that’s
enough of whats past, let’s
look forward to 2021 in the
hope that this will be a much better twelve
months for all, and we can return to some
sort of normality in our lives and be able to
get out to some model shows, museums and
hopefully some airshows! So, welcome to the
first issue of Model Aircraft for 2021, and we
have some great new features planned for
the coming months, from contributors both
old and new! For this time we kick off the
new year with a packed issue, and our Model
Aircraft Manual this month features the new
1:48 Kinetic Harrier GR.3 with a full build from
Jezz Coleman and colour artwork from Ryan
Dorling. Seeing the kit when it arrived at MA
HQ reminded me of some very happy times
visiting the Harriers at RAF Wittering, and then
RAF Cottesmore, and how the quirky Harrier
became a ‘vertical reality’. Staying on a British
theme, our Mission Models build this time is
the wonderful Blackburn Buccaneer in its ‘Red
Flag’ guise thanks to Mac Patterson’s Airfix
1:48 S2B build. Our cover build this month
features Stuart Barry’s look at the recent Revell
B-25 ‘Mexican Spitfire’, and
we have two quite superb
step-by-step projects this
time, the first being Mario
Serelle’s 1:72 Tamiya P-47D in
the short-lived markings of
Brazilian pilot 1st Lt. Miranda
Correa, and the second is
our ‘Big Build’ feature where
Snorre Sandviken builds an
3
VOLUME 20 ISSUE 01
African Warrior of the Somalian Air Force using
the1:48 Eduard MiG-21MF. We also welcome
Uger Kernel to our pages this month with his
1:48 build of the unique OV-1D Mohawk in
Argentine colours. This has just scratched the
surface of this issue, and we have so much
more to bring you in the coming months! So,
can I on behalf of all at MA Publications thank
you for your company during 2020, and look
forward to the same in 2021. As
always, stay safe, stay strong
and……
Happy modelling
Andy
4 CONTENTS
6 MEXICAN SPITFIRE
Mexican Spitfire!
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Revell B-25D Mitchell in the markings of the ill-fated 41-30592
T
he 1:48 Revell B-25D Mitchell is a re-
boxing of the Accurate Miniatures kit
from the 2000s. Inside the usual Revell
box are some 230 parts, although not
all are to be used in the construction.
The parts are presented in a medium hard
styrene with finely recessed and riveted detail
and two options are provided with minor build
differences between the two. Construction
began as usual with the fairly detailed cockpit
but considering the amount that will be seen
due to the greenhouse type glazing, I decided
to add some basic seat harnesses made from
masking tape. The tape has a fabric effect and
takes painting very well. I find Tamiya tape
although excellent for masking does not like
being painted on top of and
6 Mexican Spitfire!
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Revell B-25D Mitchell
in the markings of the ill-fated 41-30592
52 MIG-21MF WEEKEND EDITION
African
WARRIOR
T
THE BIG BUILD
he MiG-21MF is a third-generation
version of the ubiquitous MiG design.
It is in reality, a MiG-21M with a new
powerplant with afterburner and a
newer radar system. Its internal fuel
capacity was limited, so it carried underwing
drop tanks to increase its range. Armament
comprised an internal cannon and various
loads of missiles, bombs or rocket pods fitted
The cockpit parts painted up
52 The Big Build - African Warrior
Snorre Sandviken builds 1:48 Eduard MiG-21MF of
the Somalian Air Force
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can flake. Aftermarket seats or a full cockpit is
highly recommended and will definitely make
the interior look better, but the kit parts are more
than adequate. Later in the build I found that
the glazing fitted so well it could be removed to
look inside the cockpit after construction and put
back on with no problem!
Once the cockpit was complete, I took the
sideboard side of the fuselage and assembled
into it the entire interior, including the highly
detailed bomb bay. Once everything was fixed,
B-25D Mitchell everything was primed in Ammo by MIG One
Manufacturer: Revell Shot Primer and when dry, the MIG Ammo by
Scale: 1:48 MIG FS 34151 Zinc Chrome Interior Green was
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded painted in. A home-made dark green enamel
Kit Number: 04977 wash was then used to bring out the detail and
add some shadows, and a silver pencil was used
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Snorre Sandviken builds
1:48 Eduard MiG-21MF of the
Somalian Air Force
to its four wing pylons. The MiG-21 MF was
built from 1970 to 1974, mainly for export. The
country of Somalia was created in 1960 from
former British and Italian colonies, and the
new Republic of Somalia formed the Somalia
Aeronautical Corps (SAC) in the same year. With
the primary task of supporting the army, its
aircraft were initially Western, but from 1963
onwards, in exchange for leasing bases at three
ports, the USSR supplied much of the military MiG-21MF Weekend Edition
Manufacturer: Eduard
equipment. In 1974 the SAC took
delivery of the first ten Scale: 1:48
MiG-21MF fighters and Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
four MiG-21UM trainers. Kit Number: 84126
lt. is not certain how Eduard Interior #FE723
many ultimately arrived, Berna Decals #BD 48-98
but most sources suggest
a maximum of forty-five
fighters and ten trainers. war ended disastrously for Somalia, and in a
Together with MiG-15s, series of civil wars that followed the MiG-21s,
MiG-17s and Shenyang F6s, together with the rest of the SAC aircraft, were
they went into action in 1977 destroyed or abandoned. Eight MiG-21 wrecks
when the Ogaden region were still on Mogadishu Airports dump nearly
of Ethiopia was invaded twenty years later
by Somalian troops. The I had this kit sitting in my collection for a
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
couple of years and didn’t really have any big
plans for it apart from building it someday, but
when I got a set of Berna decals with various
African MiG-21 roundels and serials, all that
changed. I started researching MiG-21s from
every country that had decals represented
on the sheet. The Somali ones caught my
eye instantly. There was something about
the livery and the almost tragic history of the
Somali Air force that made me want to build
it as a Somalian example. The Eduard MiG-21
kits come with high praise from around the
modelling community. I’m normally sceptical
to praise like that, as it for me rarely is accurate,
but in this case, it is. The fit is excellent, and the
engineering and parts breakdown makes this a
to give a light chipping effect Unfortunately a
lot of the interior detail will not be seen once the
halves were closed up, and it was for that reason I
decided to have the bomb bay open, but with no
bombs installed.
The fuselage windows needed to be installed
from the inside, and these fitted well and were
pressed home for a tight fit. Then a watered-
down mix of clear PVA glue was run into the
corners of the frames using capillary action.
Brining the two fuselage halves together was a
bit tricky, as the numerous parts inside could get
in the way of each other. So, time and patience,
along with Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Set Cement
was the order of the day. The wing halves were
brought together in the same way, and the
LONG LENGTHS OF WIDE TAMIYA TAPE WAS USED TO CREATE
THE WAVY CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF
THE FUSELAGE AND ENGINES
I used an Eduard
interior set
AFTER SCOURING THE INTERNET FOR PICTURES OF SOMALI
MIG-21S, I FOUND ONE CARRYING MORE ORDNANCE THAN
JUST A DROP TANK
The fuselage halves with side panels detailed
Adding some weight in the nose
pretty good kit.
The first step in the build manual
suggests assembling the front
gear bay. Now, I usually build
according to the manual, but
in an attempt to save time, I
cut all the parts needed for the
gear bays, the engine section and the cockpit
free from the sprues, grouped them so they
wouldn’t get mixed in with each other and
placed them on a pice of cardboard. I recently
figured out that doing it this way saves a lot of
time in the early stages of the build when every using Alclad Black primer and Microfiller (ALC
little part must be painted before assembly.
This way you can paint all the parts that are
the same colour at the same time, instead of
7 12
MEXICAN SPITFIRE
A look at the inside of
the fuselage
undercarriage legs were to be added later to
avoid any accidental damage. With all the major
assemblies now together, the seams were taken
care of with a medium sanding stick. Any seams
that were needed attention were filled with
Humbrol Filler and any fine cracks were taken
care of with Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer G.
A wing spar system is included to try and
give the correct wing alignment
to the fuselage. This is a
good idea but in practice
there is a fair amount of
slip and it doesn’t help
much, if at all. A level
work surface, a ruler
and a keen eye were
53
AFRICAN WARRIOR
having to switch colours all the time. All the
pieces, apart from the engine parts were then
primed using Alclad Grey Primer and Microfiller
(ALC 302), lightly thinned with Hataka Thinner
(HTK-XP03). The engine parts were then primed
309) thinned with the same thinner, and the
grey parts of the engine were then given a
coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss (ALC 600), as they
COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
The Rockwell
B-1 Lancer
T
he Rockwell B-1 Lancer is US Air Force
a supersonic variable-sweep wing,
heavy bomber commonly called the
‘Bone’ (from ‘B-One’). The B-1 was first
envisioned in the 1960s as a platform
that would combine the Mach 2 speed of the
B-58 Hustler with the range and payload of the
B-52 and was meant to ultimately replace both
bombers. After a long series of studies, Rockwell
International (now part of Boeing) won the
design contest for what emerged as the B-1A.
This version had a top speed of Mach 2.2 at high
altitude and the capability of flying for long
distances at Mach 0.85 at very low altitudes. The
combination of the high cost of the aircraft, the
introduction of the AGM-86 cruise missile that
flew the same basic profile, and early work on
the stealth bomber all significantly affected the
need for the B-1. This led to the program being
cancelled in 1977, after the B-1A prototypes had
been built. The program was restarted in 1981,
largely as an interim measure due to delays
in the B-2 stealth bomber program. This led
to a redesign as the B-1B, which differed from
the B-1A by having a lower top speed at high
altitude of Mach 1.25, but improved low-altitude
12 Combat Zone - Bad to the Bone
Mark Thompson builds the 1:144 Academy B-1B
60 REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT
‘Arlette’
W
hen the Brazilian Air Force
P-47D Thunderbolts arrived
in Italy in October 1944, the
squadron patch ‘Senta a Pua’
was almost immediately
painted on every aircraft cowling. However, 1st
Lt. Miranda Correa, then the Intelligence Officer
of the Brazilian squadron, decided to name one
of the P-47s after his wife, ‘Arlette’, and added
a small pin-up below the cockpit. The idea was
not well received by the squadron commander
and soon the nose art was removed. This
aircraft later received the code D6 on the
engine cowling and finished the War being
shot down by German AA on 22 April 1944. The
pilot 2nd Lt. Eduardo Coelho bailed out safely.
So, this aircraft was my choice and for this build
I am using the 1:72 Tamiya kit to portray the
short-lived ‘Arlette’.
After preparing all interior parts I sprayed on
a coat of Ammo by MIG One Shot Grey Primer
60 ‘Arlette’
Mario Serelle builds the 1:72 Tamiya P-47D in
the short-lived markings of Brazilian pilot 1st Lt.
Miranda Correa
COMBAT ZONE
FIGHTING COLO U R S
Wings swept forward the
B1B is an imposing sight
performance of Mach 0.96. The electronics were
also extensively improved during the redesign,
and the airframe was improved to allow takeoff
with the maximum possible fuel and weapons
load. The B-1B began deliveries in 1986 and
formally entered service with Strategic Air
Command (SAC) as a nuclear bomber in that
same year.
The B-1 has a blended wing body
configuration, with variable-sweep wings, four
turbofan engines, triangular fin control surfaces
and cruciform tail. Forward-swept wing settings
are used for take-off, landings and high-altitude
maximum cruise. Aft-swept wing settings are
used in high subsonic and supersonic flight.
The B-1’s variable-sweep wings and thrust-to-
weight ratio provide it with improved takeoff
Mario Serelle builds the 1:72
Tamiya P-47D in the short-lived
markings of Brazilian pilot 1st Lt.
Miranda Correa
and tried to reproduce the peculiar Bronze
Green colour with a mix of RLM70 Black Green,
Blue and Grey Shadow. This colour was applied
to all cockpit parts and then all small details
were carefully brush painted using various
acrylics. A Black Wash and some dry brushing
using Oilbrushers then gave the correct volume
to the parts, making all the nice details stand
out. Some subtle weathering was then added
using a Prismacolor Silver pencil to represent
some scratches and paint chipping. Pigments
were then used to create dirt on the floor. Before
moving to assembling the main components,
the wheel wells were also painted and
weathered. Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green was my
choice to represent the Yellow Zinc Chromate
and Ammo by MIG Interior Wash was used to
accent the details and add some dirt as well.
Tamiya’s engineering quality was evident
during the assembly of major components,
as all parts fitted perfectly and were easily
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A B-1B over
Afghanistan
E
COMBAT ZON
S
OUR
COL
NG
FIG
HTI
performance, allowing it to use shorter runways
than previous bombers. The length of the aircraft
presented a flexing problem due to air turbulence
at low altitude, so to alleviate this, Rockwell
included small triangular fin control surfaces or
vanes near the nose and the B-1’s Structural Mode
Control System rotates the vanes automatically
to counteract turbulence and smooth out the
ride. Unlike the B-1A, the B-1B cannot reach Mach
2+ speeds, its maximum speed is Mach 1.25,
but its low-level speed increased to Mach 0.92.
To help lower its radar cross section (RCS), the
B-1B uses serpentine air intake ducts and fixed
intake ramps, which limit its speed compared
to the B-1A. Vanes in the intake ducts serve to
deflect and shield radar emissions from the highly
reflective engine compressor blades. The nose
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Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Scale: 1:72
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 60770
secured in place using Extra Thin cement. A few
small seams on the back of the fuselage were
quickly filled using Black Slow Dry CA glue. The
Black colour is quite useful for this process as
it makes easier to see where is still needed to
sand. A small seam below the windscreen was
also treated with Ammo by MIG Acrylic Putty.
The advantage of using acrylic putty is that all
excess can be easily removed with a cotton
swab moistened in water, with no need for
sanding, especially in areas that can be quite
dangerous, such as when dealing with clear
parts. Tamiya also supplies a great R-2800. First
the parts were coated with a Black Primer and
then the cylinders were painted with Alclad
Dark Aluminium and the crankcase with Neutral
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
B-1B Lancer departs for a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range during Red Flag sortie
B-1B Lancer aircrew
prepares for their next
mission at Andersen Air
Force Base, Guam
gear cover door has controls for the auxiliary
power units (APUs), which allow for quick starts of
the APUs upon order to scramble. The B-1’s main
computer is the IBM AP-101, which was also used
on the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-52 and
is programmed with the JOVIAL programming
language. The Lancer’s offensive avionics include
the Westinghouse AN/APQ-164 forward-looking
A Dyess based B-1B takes off
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
ALSO USED
FCM Decals #72-20 Jambock Squadron
Eduard #73004 USAF & USN WWII Seatbelts
Fuel Models #72003 P-47D/M Wheels
Diamond Tread
Fuel Models #72006 P-47 100gal Drop Tank
The cockpit assembles
easily and looks great
with all the small details
Grey. A Black Wash was used to accent all nice
details in the engine, and it was completed by
adding some spark plug cables made from thin
cooper wire.
Soon I was ready for painting, and my
favourite technique for a weathered surface
is the Black Basing method. I began with a
Black primer coat and then ‘marbling’
coats were created using White on
the underside and Ammo by MIG
Olive Drab highlights on the
upper surfaces. These paints
were airbrushed through a
piece of sponge, creating a
very irregular pattern. The
Neutral Grey and Olive
Drab basic colours were
supplied by Tom Colors
and were airbrushed in
COMBAT ZONE
FIGHTING COLO U R S
offensive passive electronically scanned array
radar set with electronic beam steering (and a
fixed antenna pointed downward for reduced
radar observability), synthetic aperture radar,
ground moving target indication (GMTI),
and terrain-following radar modes, Doppler
navigation, radar altimeter, and an inertial
navigation suite. The 1995 B-1B Block D upgrade
An Interior Wash from Ammo by MIG was used to
THE DECALS CAME FROM BRAZILIAN MANUFACTURER FCM
DECALS AND WERE PRINTED BY MICROSCALE
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13 18 OREGON EAGLE
COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
Oregon Eagle
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Hasegawa F-15C with some very the
colourful markings!
T
he F-15 is possibly one of my all-time
favourite jets. So, it was a surprise
that I didn’t have one in my display
cabinet, despite having several
unmade in my collection. So, to
rectify this I selected the 1:48 Hasegawa F-15C
because of its overall quality, but unfortunately
the decals had seen better days, so I needed
to find a replacement. I managed to source a
Monogram F-15C with a beautiful eagle design,
and the decals from this kit would be ideal.
Construction was typical of many model
aircraft beginning with the cockpit. A nice
electronics bay is located behind a basic ejector
seat that sits in a nicely detailed office. The
overall colour I used was Gunze Aircraft Grey,
and Tamiya NATO Black for the ejector seat. The
electronics bay was painted in Gunze RLM 65.
Everything was then darkened down with
a Tamiya Panel Line wash, which also
A B-1 Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base, brought out the detail. The air intakes
prepares to take on fuel from a KC-135 were constructed and painted in
Stratotanker from the 905th Air Refueling Wing
Tamiya Flat White XF-2 and
then sandwiched between
the two fuselage halves.
18 Oregon Eagle
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Hasegawa F-15C with
some very the colourful markings!
61 66 PZL P.11A POLISH FIGHTER
‘ARLETTE’
add some dirt effects to the wheel wells
Rafał Lebioda
builds the 1:72
IBG PZL P.IIa
As expected from
a Tamiya kit,
the fit of main
components
is close to
perfection
Polish Fighter
A
s soon as I heard that IBG Models
was releasing the famous 1:72
PZL P.IIa, I knew this would be a
model that I would actually queue
outside my local hobby shop for! As
soon as the model was in my hands I started
building, and as always, I started by carefully
checking the instructions, and then scouring
the internet for references. This allowed me to
make a solid start on the construction as well
as providing some inspiration. The parts came
on a few grey sprues and were cast with a very
The completed cockpit
66 Polish Fighter
Rafał Lebioda builds the 1:72 IBG PZL P.IIa
F-15C Eagle
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 07249
high level of detailing. The instructions were in
the shape of a typically clear IBG manual, and
I began by removing the cockpit frame parts
from the sprues. There was also a small etched
fret containing several elements designed for
the interior to work with, along with parts for
the exterior. After installing all of these parts, I
covered everything with a coat of Mr Surfacer
1200. Then I sprayed on some Tamiya XF-1
Black followed by Mr Hobby SM201 Super Fine
Silver from their Super Metallic II series. I then
painted the other elements of the interior such
as the pilot’s seat, and then gave everything a
coat of Gloss, before applying some Ammo
by MIG US Modern Vehicles Wash. Once dry,
I removed the excess with a cotton bud and
then applied a Matt coat.
I then fixed the cockpit into one of the
fuselage halves and then glued both sides
together. The fit was near perfect with just
a touch of putty needed here and there.
After a little sanding I applied a coat of Mr
Surfacer 500, which was perfectly suited for
levelling small scratches. Once dry I checked
for anything I had missed and then gave the
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PZL P.11a Polish Fighter
Manufacturer: IBG
Scale: 1:72
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 72517
fuselage a final run over with a sanding cloth
before applying another coat of Mr Surfacer. In
the next stage I started preparing the wings.
The wings had three elements, one, the upper
wing with its characteristic curve and two
lower parts. There were no surprises here as
everything fitted together very well. I just
had to refine the leading edges a touch using
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Once glued together only a small amount of
filler and sanding was required. The two rear
nose halves were brought together, and the
separate nose cone was glued in place. A small
amount of filling and sanding was needed
here, but no nose weight is required. The
wings were a much easier affair, just two good
fitting halves to be brought together and
glued. The weapons pylons were not
needed for this particular build. I
also worked on other things like the
centre fuel tank and landing gear
assemblies. The gear assemblies
were painted in Tamiya X-2 Gloss
White and again a panel line
wash was used to bring out
the details. There are two fuel
tanks supplied in the kit to
be placed under each wing
as required. The landing
gear bays and inside of
the doors were
painted in
Tamiya X-2 Gloss
THE HUGE DECAL SHEET PROVIDED A SPLENDID EAGLE THAT
WAS WELL DESIGNED AND WELL PRINTED
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
The main colour used was Mr
Hobby H81 Khaki
various grades of sanding sticks.
The tail planes were then
assembled, and I chose to show
them deflected downward for
more interest, and I also added the
smaller etched reinforcement parts,
which looked really good. I then set everything
aside to dry for twenty-four hours. I then fixed
the wings to the fuselage, again without any
issues and also showed the ailerons in the down
position. I then added the wing and tail plane
I KNEW THIS WOULD BE A MODEL THAT I
WOULD ACTUALLY QUEUE OUTSIDE MY LOCAL
HOBBY SHOP FOR!
The decals reacted well with Mr Hobby products
19
OREGON EAGLE
White, and again detailed with applied and dried fully, White Tac
panel line accent. sausages with lots of masking
The entire model was then tape were used to create the
coated in a thin mix of Tamiya upper surface camouflage
XF-19 Sky Grey, thinned with pattern. Once fully dried
Mr Color levelling thinner. Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss was
Any roughness left was then used again with levelling
buffed out with a thinner to prepare for the
soft cloth. Tamiya huge decals to come.
NATO Black was used The huge decal sheet provided
to pre-shade ton the panel a splendid eagle that was well
lines to give some depth to the designed and well printed, and
top layers. My original plan was being so large, extreme care was
to use Mr Hobby FS36375 for the taken when applying them. Warm
overall base colour with Mr Hobby water was used to separate the
FS36320 for the camouflage decals, and a generous amount
pattern on top. However, there was also applied to the model
was next to no difference to help with all the positioning
between the two colours, so adjustments that would be needed.
I swapped the FS36320 for Even though they were designed
Vallejo Model Air 71.120 for the monogram kit, they fitted the
36320, which looked much Hasegawa kit perfectly. Once in place
better. Once the base coat a soft flat brush was used to tease the
of FS36375 was water out from underneath the decals
and Micro Sol was used to help them
conform. The decals were then sealed
in with a few coats of Tamiya X35 Satin,
this time not using levelling thinners but
67
POLISH FIGHTER
The undersides were
painted with Mr Hobby
H57 Light Blue
I chose an aircraft from
the Polish 114th Fighter
Squadron….
…..and the large
decals settled
perfectly
MODEL AIRCRAFT
22 GRUMMAN OV-1B MOHAWK
SUPER DETAILED
Mohawk
T
he Grumman OV-1 Mohawk was
an armed military observation and
attack aircraft that was designed
for battlefield surveillance and light
strike capabilities. The Mohawk’s
first flight was in 1957 and the first aircraft flew
in 1960 as a visual observation aircraft. Initial
production models were ordered for the US
Army as the OV-1A and centred around day and
22 Super Detailed Mohawk
Uger Kenel adds a host of extras to the 1:48
Roden OV-1D in Argentine colours
70 F-16AM NATO VIPER
A Romanian Falcon
Jezz Coleman adds some colourful camouflage to the 1:48 Kinetic F-16AM
F-16AM NATO Viper
Manufacturer: Kinetic
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: K48002
T
he kit I am using for this build is the
1:48 Kinetic F-16AM NATO Viper, with
decals from Model Maker. The build
started with the cockpit, and on the
main part, which was a one-piece
tub, there were separately moulded instrument
panels that were painted up on their sprues.
All the switches and dials were then picked
out and painted prior to being attached to the
cockpit. The ejector seat was made up from
several parts, and suitably painted. Anyone
that has built a Kinetic F-16 will know that you
have a vast amount of plastic in the box. This is
mainly due to the many variants and weapons
options Kinetic has to offer. With all main
fuselage pieces cut from the sprue, the forward
upper section of the fuselage was glued to the
rear upper section, and then the cockpit was
glued into place.
Next I assembled the rear undercarriage
wheel bays, and these were painted white
then installed into the lower section of the
70 A Romanian Falcon
Jezz Coleman adds some colourful camouflage to
the 1:48 Kinetic F-16AM
35 Model Aircraft Manual –
Harrier GR.3
Jezz Coleman builds the new 1:48 Kinetic
Harrier GR.3, with Scale Plans , Colour Artwork
and a Walk Around
Uger Kenel adds a host of extras to the
1:48 Roden OV-1D in Argentine colours
night visual reconnaissance using conventional
camera systems. The OV-1B soon followed,
offering a different radar suite and a Side-
Looking Airborne Radar, mounted in a large
under-fuselage pod, although this version
was fitted without the optical cameras of the
preceding model. The similar OV-1C was next
up, fitted with an AAS-24 infrared surveillance
system while the definitive model was the
fuselage. Then the front intake was assembled
around the front wheel bay housing, and here
I decided that I was going to display this
aircraft with a canvas FOD covers added,
to negate having to work on the intake
interior! These were made using Milliput
Fine, which was moulded around the
intake and exhaust. These were then put
I began with a
black basecoat….
JANUARY 2021
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Here you can see the cockpit parts provided by
Grumman OV-1B Mohawk Roden. So some improvement was needed!
Manufacturer: Roden
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 410
Here you can see the
completed cockpit
with seats added
OV-1D, featuring
improved engine
specifications,
a side-loading bay
door for small amounts cargo and additional Here is the rear electronic section provided by
sensors. A total of 380 OV-1 Mohawks were the Black Dog resin parts. Painting was difficult
because of limited space in the bays, and I used
produced between 1957 and 1969 and served
the US Army in Europe, Korea, the Vietnam
War, Central and South America, Alaska, and
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
aside for the Milliput to cure. I then assembled
the flaps and leading-edge slats, along with
the vertical stabiliser, and seams were
then cleaned up as neccessary. As I was
not displaying any weapons on this build, I
only needed to glue the fuel tanks and pylons
together, and with that done I was ready to add
some paint.
I started by giving the model a black base
using Hataka Jet Black, followed by a ‘marble
coat’ using Hataka Traffic White. The three-tone
23 28 MQ-9 REAPER UAV
SUPER DETAILED MOHAWK
Grant Dalzell builds the
1:72 Kinetic MQ-9 UAV
Here are the flight instruments and the clear The Eduard set provided much
gauges provided in the kit better cockpit details
Here you can see the
cockpit with Eduard
additions, looking much
more realistic
Fear the
Reaper
Main assembly of the
instrument panels of the
OV-1 now with Eduard
parts added. More detail
painting is stil needed
U
AV’s or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
may seem a boring subject to make
a model of, but they have become
a very essential tool for surveillance
or delivering a weapons strike on a
target, whilst the operator sits possibly on the
other side of the world, taking out the potential
risk of losing an actual pilot in a conventional
aircraft. The MQ-9 Reaper is operated by the
United States Air Force, United States Customs
and Border Protection, Royal Air Force and
the Italian Air Force. Other countries that have
or are in the process of getting the Reaper
include Australia, Dominican Republic, France,
Germany, Netherlands, Spain, India and
Belgium. This build is of Kinetic’s re-boxing of
some extra decals to add more detail
the 2011’s Skunk Models MQ-9. Although it is
1:72, it still has a wingspan of 279mm! This kit
28 Fear the Reaper
Grant Dalzell builds the 1:72 Kinetic MQ-9 UAV
71 74 HS BUCCANEER S2B
Mission Models Masterclass
A ROMANIAN FALCON
….followed by a
‘marble’ coat….
Red Flag to
…and then
the three tone
camouflage
A Bucc!
Mac Patterson uses Mission
Models Paints to add and
interesting camouflage scheme to
the 1:48 Airfix Buccaneer S2B
T
he Blackburn Buccaneer provided
stoical service to both the Royal
Navy and Airforce for several
decades, however, in a story similar
to that of the UK F-4 Phantom,
The decals came from the Buccaneer was initially offered to and
Model Maker…
rejected by the RAF. Designed in the late
1950’s as a naval strike aircraft to counter the
Soviet cruisers threat, the Buccaneer was
adopted by the Royal Airforce towards the
end of the 1960’s, receiving the remaining
Fleet Air Arm Bucc’s when the Navy retired
its large aircraft carriers. The types Gulf War
swan song was notable as its contribution
to coalition airpower was vital, proving what
an outstandingly capable aircraft, it was. The
subject of this build captures the Buccaneer
at the height of its powers in the mid 1970’s
as one of the RAF aircraft that participated
74 Mission Models - Red Flag to A
Bucc!
Mac Patterson uses Mission Models Paints to add
and interesting camouflage scheme to the 1:48
Airfix Buccaneer S2B
has decal options for eight operators, including
Texas Air National Guard, New York National
Guard, Royal Air Force, French Air Force, Italian
Air Force, Netherlands Air Force, Spanish
Air Force, and finally the option I did, Royal
Australian Air Force.
This build started by gluing the landing gear
bays into the bottom of the fuselage. Straight
from the start there is a wrong part call out in
step one. The part I needed was B3, but the
instructions call out for 36? Another thing I
noted the plastic was pretty soft, not that is
an issue, but the sprue gates are very large.
Although thes gear bays are small, Kinetic
have managed to put an injector pin right in
where it will be seen, so I used a small chisel to
scrape this out best I could. After these were
glued in, the wings go on. These are moulded
in the Red Flag 1977 exercises at Nellis AFB.
The low level exploits of the Buccaneer at
Red Flag are stuff of legend, apparently
leaving their American counterparts slack
jawed in amazement, these include the
(possibly) apocryphal tale of an aircraft
clipping a telegraph pole that stood at just
over forty feet high, and it was alleged that
the Buccaneer was in a climb at the time of
contact!
For an aircraft that’s as British as fish and
chips, it’s appropriate that the only viable
kit in 1:48 of the Buccaneer is from the Airfix
stable. Kitted as both Royal Navy and RAF
variants, the Airfix mouldings have been out
for a couple of decades and to be truthful
the plastic can hardly be described as state
of the art. The issues of soft detail, wonky fit
and dubious decals are well known in the
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
MQ-9 Reaper UAV
Manufacturer: Kinetic
Scale: 1:72
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 72004
solid, so no gluing halves together. They fit as a
male/female system internally in the fuselage.
Once the wings were fixed, I glued on the top
fuselage, and I also added some lead weight up
front. The instructions call for this, but don’t say
how much.
Next I glued together the engine housing
and camera system (the camera is very basic),
and both of these are made up of two parts.
Gluing these on to the fuselage, I then cleaned
up the seam lines and used Tamiya White Putty
where required. There are three stabilisers, two
main upper and one small lower, and these are
one-piece mouldings and fit well. There are
several sensors and antennae that need to go
on as well as the pitot at this stage. I painted
the landing gear bays Tamiya XF-2 Flat White
and masked them off ready for painting the
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HS Buccaneer S2B
Manufacturer: Airfix
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: A08100
modelling world and may have put people off
even opening the box, but if you want one,
the Bucc literally stops here! After a quick scan
of the plastic, it becomes evident that some of
the parts are simply unusable, most notably
the cockpit, which is highly simplified and does
M
CO
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Landing gear bays going in
A small chisel was
needed to remove
ejector pins
Gluing on the top
fuselage part
The Hellfire missiles and racks
exterior. Painting the fuselage - yes nothing
exciting here - drones are grey! I primed the
model with AK Interactive Grey Primer, and
then added some pre-shading to the panel
lines and select areas. As drones are generally
kept immaculate, there would be no fading
or tonal variance. The call out for the fuselage
was Mr Hobby H308 Grey (FS36375) I used this
thinned with Mr Levelling thinner.
The landing gear consists of five parts. The
front gear leg is moulded with the wheel as one
part, and the rear has two legs and two separate
wheels to go on the legs. The instructions were
wrong on the rear legs, calling for the wrong
number, but the legs are keyed and can only
go one way. The rear legs were the same colour
as the aircraft, but the front leg is black and
magnesium, and here I used Tamiya X-18 Semi-
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
not represent the look of the real thing at all.
Fortunately, NeOmega supply an outstanding
resin replacement set with fantastic levels of
detail. One other immediate issue was the
warping of the upper and lower fuselage
parts, this would need to be resolved as well.
The NeOmega cockpit tub was primed and
airbrushed using Mission Models Light Gull Grey
MMP-069, with the side consoles picked out in
Black, the myriad switches and buttons each
given a dab of either White or Red to highlight
them in relief. The excellent ejection seats were
also painted up, as were the sidewalls and
bulkheads. I popped in some scale decals for
the instrument dials into each bezel and added
a drop of gloss varnish to each to create their
glass faces.
TO THE BONE
BAD
ZONE
T
BA
The wings fit is
easily enough
THESE DRONES ARE KEPT PRISTINE, SO ONLY A
PANEL LINE WASH WAS USED
Gloss Black and Vallejo Metal Color Magnesium.
The propeller and spinner are moulded as one,
and care needs to be taken getting this small
part out with large sprue gates attached to it.
Also, the propellor blades are very delicate and
thin at the tips. There is also a rear hub piece
that glues on to propeller. The fit of the rear
hub isn’t good as there are large gaps around
the blades that needed filling. I painted the
propeller blades up first and then masked them
off in order to paint the spinner and hub. The
spinner looks to be polished aluminium, so here
I used AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Chrome.
For the weapons, you get two GBU-12 laser
guided bombs and four Hellfire missiles. The
Hellfire missiles are moulded as one piece and
the GBU-12 bombs are made up of two halves
and add two fins. The weapons pylons are also
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The NeOmega
cockpit was far
better than that
supplied in the kit
I WANTED TO HAVE ONE OF THE BUCCANEERS ACCESS
PANELS OPEN REVEALING ITS ROLLS ROYCE SPEY ENGINE
I also used a CMK resin
engine insert
Before looking at the fuselage, I wanted to
have one of the Buccaneers access panels open
revealing its Rolls Royce Spey engine. So, taking
a CMK resin engine insert part as the base, I
added various bits of plumbing and wiring
in an attempt to replicate the famous British
jet engine. During test fitting I realised that
there would now not be room to fit the intake
trunking, so I decided to fabricate a pair of intake
covers to blank off this area. The access panel
was then removed from the upper fuselage
part and the painted engine glued in place,
29 MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
FEAR THE REAPER
The Harrier GR.3
History
Adding the
stabilisers
The GBU-12
pieces
moulded as one-piece. The instructions give
call outs for the weapon colours, but there are
many photographs on the internet of Reapers
loaded up, and I used these as my guide. As
the drone was a monotone colour, I was using
weapons to give the model a bit more colour.
After everything had been painted, the model
and other bits received a coat of Mr Color Gloss
Super Clear III to protect paint work.
35 Model Aircraft Manual –
Harrier GR.3
Scale Plans, Colour Artwork, Walk Around and
Model build of the 1:48 Kinetic kit
75 78 CHECK YOUR REFERENCES
MISSION MODELS MASTERCLASS
CHECK YOUR
REFERENCES
Models Aircraft’s Monthly Look at New Books
Arado Ar 196 Units in
Combat
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Peter De Jong
ISBN: 9781472844972
Format: Softback
Here you can see
Price: £14.99
the cockpit and
B
eating its biplane rivals in
engine in situ
a 1936 Reich Air Ministry
design competition,
the Arado Ar 196 provided the
the completed NeOmega cockpit was also Kriegsmarine with possibly the
secured, the fit being surprisingly good. One best shipborne reconnaissance
of the idiosyncratic quirks on the Buccaneer, seaplane of World War II. Replacing
was its rotating bomb bay, I thought an open the Heinkel He 60 biplane as
bay would add a level of interest to the build, the standard catapult-launched
so using photographic reference I fabricated floatplane embarked on the
the internal detail on the lower section of the Kriegsmarine’s capital ships, the Ar
fuselage. 196 flew an assortment of combat
As mentioned earlier, the upper and lower missions during World War II,
fuselage parts were significantly warped,
including coastal patrol, submarine
meaning alignment was going to be a serious
hunting, light bombing, general
challenge, to aid this I added extra internal tabs
reconnaissance and convoy escort
sorties. The first vessel to take its
78 Check Your References
Latest Book reviews.
Model Aircraft Manual
Colour Profiles
Ar 196A-1s to sea was the pocket
battleship Graf Spee, which
embarked two in the autumn of
1939. The battleships Bismarck and
Tirpitz could carry six Arados each,
the battlecruisers Gneisenauand
Scharnhorst four and smaller
pocket battleships and cruisers
two. Shore-based aircraft were
also operated from coastal ports
on the Channel, Baltic, North Sea
and Bay of Biscay coasts, as well as
in the Balkans and Mediterranean.
In this title, supported by an
excellent selection of photographs
and full-colour illustrations, the
author explores the history of
the Arado Ar 196, detailing their
development and assessing the
combat capabilities of one of the
last fighting seaplanes.
www.ospreypublishing.com
Scale Plans Step by Step Build
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
A-7 Corsair Units
1975-91
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Peter Mersky
ISBN: 9781472844972
Format: Softback
Price: £14.99
A
t the A-7 Corsair II’s peak
in the mid-1980s, some 30
US Navy squadrons flew
various versions of the aircraft,
including six Naval Air Reserve
units, and these many of these units
saw action across the Middle East.
By the time the jet saw combat in
Operation Desert Storm (1991), there
remained only two fleet squadrons -
many fleet squadrons having either
disestablished or transitioned to
the F/A18 Hornet - but both of these
units (VA-46 and VA-72) played
a major role in the campaign to
free Kuwait. The book details the
technological development and
improvements that were introduced
to the airframe post-Vietnam (the
FLIR targeting pod from 1979 and
AGM-88 HARM missile from 1983
being the most important), and
how they shaped operational
employment of the aircraft. The
jet’s combat experiences in conflicts
during the 1970s (Cambodia), 1980s
(Lebanon, Grenada, Libya and Iran),
and 1990s (Iraq) are explained
in detail, and the authors expert
analysis is supported by numerous
first-hand accounts from naval
aviators that saw action with the A-7
during these campaigns.
www.ospreypublishing.com
5
VOLUME 20 ISSUE 01
46 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
Welsh Wildcat
Jezz Coleman builds the new Kinetic Harrier GR.3 in the markings of No.233 OCU
Harrier GR.1/GR.3
T
his aircraft needs no introduction as which is enhanced with a set of etched seatbelts.
it gained fame as the first operational Manufacturer: Kinetic The cockpit itself also has some reasonably well
jet capable of vertical take-off and Scale: 1:48 moulded control and instrument panels and
landing, and of course for its part in Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded side consoles. This was all painted light grey,
the 1982 Falklands War. So, without Kit Number: 48060 and the details were then picked out with a fine
further ado, lets move onto the kit. For many brush. I must say I was a touch disappointed that
years’ modellers have been eagerly awaiting
a manufacturer to release a new tool, high Anyone that has built one of the earlier kinetic
there were no decals included to represent the
instruments, but I am sure an aftermarket set
quality early Harrier kit in 1:48. Now, enter Harriers will be aware that there are some very will be available soon, if not by the time we go
Kinetic with their new GR.1/GR.3 Gold offering, small building issues, but nothing that some
and on first inspection of the contents of the dry fitting and a little modelling know how
crammed box, there are several sprues that cannot fix. The decal options are also very nice,
share a similarity to their earlier release of the and I chose to show my build in the markings
Sea Harrier and T-Bird trainer, but these are of No.233 OCU with their ‘Welsh Wildcat’
mainly the generic parts. What you do have are emblem on the nose.
several new sprues containing the fuselage, So, to begin I assembled the ejector seat which
intake parts and wings along, with comes as several nicely moulded and
weapons and interior parts detailed parts. With some careful
that will enable you to build detail painting you soon get a
either the short-nosed GR.1 good representation of the seat,
or the later GR.3 with its
longer LRMTS nose, and tail
mounted RWR and also the FOR MANY YEARS’ MODELLERS HAVE BEEN EAGERLY
undernose fairing for the AWAITING A MANUFACTURER TO RELEASE A NEW
FINRAE as used by aircraft
in the Falklands War.
TOOL, HIGH QUALITY EARLY HARRIER KIT IN 1:48
The ejector seat comes
as several well moulded
parts with etched
seatbelts
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 79
CHECK YOUR REFERENCES
Black Arrow –
Blue Diamond
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Author: Brian Mercer
ISBN: 9781526796813
Format: Softback
Sinking Force Z
1941
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Tony Buttler
ISBN: 9781472846600
Format: Softback
Price: £13.99
Price: £12.99
I
n late 1941, war was looming
B
rian Mercer is one of the with Japan, and Britain’s
most outstanding post-war empire in southeast Asia was
RAF fighter pilots and in this at risk. The British government
Cold War Delta Prototypes
eminently readable autobiography decided to send Force Z, which
he recaptures life as it was in the included the state-of-the-art
days of transition from flying battleship Prince of Wales and the Publisher: Osprey
Dresden and the
piston-powered aircraft to jet battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the Author: Tony Buttler company built the 707 family of
power. His flying and leadership naval defences of Singapore, and ISBN: 9781472843333 research aircraft, which led to
Heavy Bombers skills resulted in a long association
with what was then considered as
provide a mighty naval deterrent
to Japanese aggression. These two
Format: Softback the famous Vulcan, to show how
the delta wing could be adopted
Publisher: Pen and Sword Price: £13.99
Author: Frank Musgrove the finest aerobatic display team in powerful ships arrived in Singapore for a highly successful subsonic
A
ISBN: 9781526791009 the world - Treble One Squadron’s on 2 December - five days before t the dawn of the bomber. This book examines the
Format: Softback
Price: £12.99
‘Black Arrows’. Flying the elegant
black Hawker Hunters in large
the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor. But crucially, they lacked
supersonic jet age, aircraft
designers were forced to
development of the delta wing in
Britain and America, and the way
formation displays was no easy task air cover. On 9 December Japanese devise radical new planforms that in which experimental aircraft
T
his is the first-hand account and the author explains in great scout planes detected Force Z’s suited the new power of the jet like the Fairey Deltas proved their
of a young man’s entry detail how their legendary precision approach in the Gulf of Thailand. engine. One of the most successful potential and versatility. In Britain
into World War II in 1941, was achieved, revealing many Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships was the delta wing. Although it covers the Fairey Delta 1 and
culminating in his role in the exciting incidents en route. When at sea could manoeuvre, and their Gloster produced the delta wing Fairey Delta 2, the proposed Fairey
bombing of Dresden in February Treble One’s Hunters were replaced anti-aircraft defences were ready. Javelin, and Boulton Paul -its Delta Rocket Fighter and huge
1945 by RAF Bomber Command. with the supersonic Lightning But it did no good. The Japanese P.111 research aircraft - Fairey Delta 3 long range interceptor,
This is not a gung-ho account of fighter, it soon became clear that dive-bombers and torpedo- and Avro were the champions of and the Avro 707. On the American
flying with Bomber Command, these superfast aircraft were not bombers were the most advanced the delta in Britain. Meanwhile side, it examines the Convair XF-92
instead Musgrove takes the form suited to close-up display flying. in the world, and the battle was in America, with the exception and XF-92A, the development
of a basic narrative in his memoir, Brian was then asked to form a new one-sided. Strategically, the loss of of Douglas’s Navy jet fighter of the Delta Dagger/Delta Dart
paying particular attention to fear, RAF display team and continue with Force Z was a colossal disaster for programmes, Convair largely had family, and the Convair Sea Dart
morale and, as the author explains, Hunters. This was to become the the British, and one that effectively the delta wing to itself. These - the world’s only supersonic
the myth of leadership felt by No.92 Squadron’s Blue Diamonds’, marked the end of its empire in the development lines, one on each seaplane.
those involved first-hand. Several who inherited the star role. Faced East. But even more importantly, side of the Atlantic, had essentially www.ospreypublishing.com
raids are described in detail and with the fact that future promotion the sinking marked the last time the same objective - to produce
illustrate the variety of experiences, within the RAF would move him that battleships were considered to high-speed fighter aircraft. In
problems and dangers involved from cockpit to desk, Brian elected be the masters of the ocean. From Britain, the Fairey Delta 2 went
in such hazardous warfare. First to join then then fledgling airline, that day on, air power rather than on to break the World Air Speed
published nearly sixty years after his Cathay Pacific. His story continues big guns would be the deciding Record in spectacular fashion,
experiences, the author delves into with many exciting incidents flying factor in naval warfare. but it failed to win a production
his recollections of the bombing of from the company’s home base at www.ospreypublishing.com order. In contrast Convair received
factories and cities to reflect on the Kai Tak in Hong Kong. major orders for two jet fighter
grave moral issues brought on by www.pen-and-sword.co.uk types and one jet bomber. At
this particular raid. the same time, the British Avro
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
6 MEXICAN SPITFIRE
Mexican Spitfire!
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Revell B-25D Mitchell in the markings of the ill-fated 41-30592
T
he 1:48 Revell B-25D Mitchell is a re-
boxing of the Accurate Miniatures kit
from the 2000s. Inside the usual Revell
box are some 230 parts, although not
all are to be used in the construction.
The parts are presented in a medium hard
styrene with finely recessed and riveted detail
and two options are provided with minor build
differences between the two. Construction
began as usual with the fairly detailed cockpit
but considering the amount that will be seen
due to the greenhouse type glazing, I decided
to add some basic seat harnesses made from
masking tape. The tape has a fabric effect and
takes painting very well. I find Tamiya tape
although excellent for masking does not like
being painted on top of and
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
can flake. Aftermarket seats or a full cockpit is
highly recommended and will definitely make
the interior look better, but the kit parts are more
than adequate. Later in the build I found that
the glazing fitted so well it could be removed to
look inside the cockpit after construction and put
back on with no problem!
Once the cockpit was complete, I took the
sideboard’ to starboard ‘starboard side of the
fuselage and assembled into it the entire interior,
including the highly detailed bomb bay. Once
B-25D Mitchell everything was fixed, everything was primed in
Manufacturer: Revell Ammo by MIG One Shot Primer and when dry,
Scale: 1:48 the MIG Ammo by MIG FS 34151 Zinc Chrome
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded Interior Green was painted in. A home-made
Kit Number: 04977 dark green enamel wash was then used to bring
out the detail and add some shadows, and a
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
silver pencil was used to give a light chipping
effect Unfortunately a lot of the interior detail will
not be seen once the halves were closed up, and
it was for that reason I decided to have the bomb
bay open, but with no bombs installed.
The fuselage windows needed to be installed
from the inside, and these fitted well and were
pressed home for a tight fit. Then a watered-
down mix of clear PVA glue was run into the
corners of the frames using capillary action.
Brining the two fuselage halves together was a
bit tricky, as the numerous parts inside could get
in the way of each other. So, time and patience,
along with Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Set Cement
was the order of the day. The wing halves were
brought together in the same way, and the
LONG LENGTHS OF WIDE TAMIYA TAPE WERE USED TO CREATE
THE WAVY CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF
THE FUSELAGE AND ENGINES
7
MEXICAN SPITFIRE
A look at the inside of
the fuselage
undercarriage legs were to be added later to
avoid any accidental damage. With all the major
assemblies now together, the seams were taken
care of with a medium sanding stick. Any seams
that were needed attention were filled with
Humbrol Filler and any fine cracks were taken
care of with Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer G.
A wing spar system is included to try and
give the correct wing alignment
to the fuselage. This is a good
idea but in practice there is
a fair amount of slip and it
doesn’t help much, if at
all. A level work surface,
a ruler and a keen eye
were therefore needed
8 MEXICAN SPITFIRE WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Dealing with
the fuselage
join

I began the painting

phase with a coat of
Ammo by MIG One
Shot Grey Primer

The upper surfaces were

painted with Tamiya XF-62 Olive
Drab and then smoothed out

The undersides were painted with Ammo by MIG FS36270 Medium Grey

Adding the rear fuselage band The front of the engine nacelles was masked and painted with Tamiya Yellow
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
I decided to open the bomb bay but leave out
any ordnance
On this particular
D model there was
clear nose that was
simply sprayed over
to obtain a correct alignment. I spent time
on this as it would cause hassle later! I was
tempted to purchase a canopy masking set
but found that the window framing was
sharp enough to use Tamiya Masking Tape
and a cocktail stick to define the edges, and
a sharp hobby was then used to cut out the
framing. On this particular D model there was
a clear nose that was simply sprayed over.
This also helped to disguise the fair amount
A coat of Johnson’s
‘Klear’ was added
to prepare for the
decals….
….which all
settled nicely
of nose weight that needed to be added to
prevent tail sitting!
The landing gear assemblies, propellers and
anything else that could be added towards the
end of the build were assembled and painted in
accordance with the instructions, and then put to
one side. The turrets and other clear parts were
also left until later. Now it was time to get some
paint down. For a primer I chose Ammo by MIG
One Shot Grey Primer, thinned slightly to assist
9
MEXICAN SPITFIRE
B-25D-20 41-30592
Built by North American, and delivered to the
US Army, the aircraft was ferried overseas via
Hawaii then across the Pacific to Australia. On
November 26, it was 1943 assigned to the 345th
Bombardment Group, 500th Bombardment
Squadron and nicknamed ‘Mexican Spitfire’. On
September 2, 1944 the aircraft took off from Biak
on a mission against Langoan Airfield but was
diverted to strafe troops along Lahbeh Strait
between Lahbeh Island and Celebes. Over the
target, this B-25 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and
ditched into Lahbeh Strait off Lahbeh Island.
On impact, the nose submerged, forcing the
tail and right wing breaking off. A Japanese
Zero strafed the crew as they were escaping
but was driven away by other B-25s from the
squadron circling to protect them. All five crew
were observed in the water, and the plane sank
five minutes later. Their raft seemed damaged
and only partially inflated, and short on fuel the
other B-25s departed and no trace of the crew
was ever seen again.
with airbrushing. This was added in light layers
and it provides a nice smooth finish ready for
the main colours. A combination of pre-shading
with dark grey and a darker grey mottle was
added to give just a hint of variation to the base
colour. The undersides were then sprayed with
Ammo by MIG FS36270 Medium Grey, and then
long lengths of wide Tamiya Tape were used to
create the wavy camouflage pattern towards
the bottom of the fuselage and engines. Then
10 MEXICAN SPITFIRE
Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab was used for the overall
top colour, followed by some Tamiya XF-11 IJN
Green to give a bit of post-shading along the
panel lines. However, I chose not to lighten any of
the panels at this stage. The paintwork was then
sealed with a coat of Johnson’s ‘Klear’ to prepare
for the decaling. This however, darkened the
Olive Drab quite a bit and in hindsight perhaps
a lighter shade of green would have been
better. The decal sheet was well printed and
performed with no problems, however, it wasn’t
too extensive. Micro Sol and Micro Set were used
to assist with the decaling process, and a warm
hairdryer helped the tail decals to confirm to the
ribbing. After the decaling was complete, a few
coats of Windsor and Newton Matt UV Varnish
was used to seal them in and reduce the sheen.
I decided not to give the model an overall
dark wash to bring out the panel lines and
rivets, as I felt this would make the paint darker
still. So, using a Tamiya Weathering Master Set
A, the panel centres
were lightened up
with light sand,
which is actually
a light shade of
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
A warm hairdryer helped the tail decals to
conform to the ribbing
green. Then using the provided applicator
brush, I lightly brushed the Olive Drab to give
it a slightly worn and weathered effect. Then a
mud colour was used in the same fashion on
the undersides. Of all the available weathering
techniques I find the use of pigment powders
to be the most satisfying and gives some good
results. Once the weathering was complete,
the landing gears, propellers and smaller parts
were glued into place. Taking time with the
wing alignment earlier in the build prevented
the model sloping to one side, as the landing
gear was located underneath the engine
nacelles. The radio wire was made from EZ Line.
Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of
the fit and detail, and the interior in particular
was very impressive. I really can recommend
this model and hope to build another variant
in the future. Thanks to Revell for the review
sample. MA
12 COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
The Rockwell
er
c
n
B-1 La
T
he Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a US Airforce
supersonic variable-sweep wing,
heavy bomber commonly called the
‘Bone’ (from ‘B-One’). The B-1 was first
envisioned in the 1960s as a platform
that would combine the Mach 2 speed of the
B-58 Hustler with the range and payload of the
B-52 and was meant to ultimately replace both
bombers. After a long series of studies, Rockwell
International (now part of Boeing) won the
design contest for what emerged as the B-1A.
This version had a top speed of Mach 2.2 at high
altitude and the capability of flying for long
distances at Mach 0.85 at very low altitudes. The
combination of the high cost of the aircraft, the
introduction of the AGM-86 cruise missile that
flew the same basic profile, and early work on
the stealth bomber all significantly affected the
need for the B-1. This led to the program being
cancelled in 1977, after the B-1A prototypes had
been built. The program was restarted in 1981,
largely as an interim measure due to delays
in the B-2 stealth bomber program. This led
to a redesign as the B-1B, which differed from
the B-1A by having a lower top speed at high
altitude of Mach 1.25, but improved low-altitude
COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
Wings swept forward the
B1B is an imposing sight
performance of Mach 0.96. The electronics were
also extensively improved during the redesign,
and the airframe was improved to allow takeoff
with the maximum possible fuel and weapons
load. The B-1B began deliveries in 1986 and
formally entered service with Strategic Air
Command (SAC) as a nuclear bomber in that
same year.
The B-1 has a blended wing body
configuration, with variable-sweep wings, four
turbofan engines, triangular fin control surfaces
and cruciform tail. Forward-swept wing settings
are used for take-off, landings and high-altitude
maximum cruise. Aft-swept wing settings are
used in high subsonic and supersonic flight.
The B-1’s variable-sweep wings and thrust-to-
weight ratio provide it with improved takeoff
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
A B-1B over
Afghanistan
COMBAT Z
ONE
S
O U R
COL
NG
H T I
F IG
performance, allowing it to use shorter runways
than previous bombers. The length of the aircraft
presented a flexing problem due to air turbulence
at low altitude, so to alleviate this, Rockwell
included small triangular fin control surfaces or
vanes near the nose and the B-1’s Structural Mode
Control System rotates the vanes automatically
to counteract turbulence and smooth out the
ride. Unlike the B-1A, the B-1B cannot reach Mach
2+ speeds, its maximum speed is Mach 1.25,
but its low-level speed increased to Mach 0.92.
To help lower its radar cross section (RCS), the
B-1B uses serpentine air intake ducts and fixed
intake ramps, which limit its speed compared
to the B-1A. Vanes in the intake ducts serve to
deflect and shield radar emissions from the highly
reflective engine compressor blades. The nose
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
B-1B Lancer departs for a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range during Red Flag sortie
B-1B Lancer aircrew
prepares for their next
mission at Andersen Air
Force Base, Guam
gear cover door has controls for the auxiliary
power units (APUs), which allow for quick starts of
the APUs upon order to scramble. The B-1’s main
computer is the IBM AP-101, which was also used
on the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-52 and
is programmed with the JOVIAL programming
language. The Lancer’s offensive avionics include
the Westinghouse AN/APQ-164 forward-looking
A Dyess based B-1B takes off
COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
13
COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
offensive passive electronically scanned array
radar set with electronic beam steering (and a
fixed antenna pointed downward for reduced
radar observability), synthetic aperture radar,
ground moving target indication (GMTI),
and terrain-following radar modes, Doppler A B-1 Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base,
navigation, radar altimeter, and an inertial prepares to take on fuel from a KC-135
Stratotanker from the 905th Air Refueling Wing
navigation suite. The 1995 B-1B Block D upgrade
14 COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
The B-1 has a blended wing body configuration, with variable-sweep wings and four turbofan engines
added a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.
The B-1’s defensive electronics include the
Eaton AN/ALQ-161A radar warning and defensive
jamming equipment, which has three sets of
antennas, one at the front base of each wing and
the third rear-facing in the tail radome. Also, in the
tail radome is the AN/ALQ-153 missile approach
warning system (pulse-Doppler radar). The ALQ-
161 is linked to a total of eight AN/ALE-49 flare
dispensers located on top behind the canopy,
which are handled by the AN/ASQ-184 avionics
management system. Each AN/ALE-49 dispenser
has a capacity for twelve MJU-23A/B flares. The
MJU-23A/B flare is one of the world’s largest
infrared countermeasure flares at a weight of over
3.3lbs, and the B-1 has also been equipped to
carry the ALE-50 towed decoy system. Also aiding
the B-1’s survivability is its relatively low radar
cross-section (RCS). Although not technically a
stealth aircraft in a comprehensive sense, thanks
to the aircraft’s structure, serpentine intake
paths and use of radar-absorbent material its
RCS is about 1/50th of the similar sized B-52’s
RCS, roughly equivalent to the RCS of a small
fighter aircraft. The B-1 has been upgraded since
production, beginning with the ‘Conventional
Mission Upgrade Program’ (CMUP), which added
a new MIL-STD-1760 smart-weapons interface to
enable the use of precision-guided conventional
weapons. CMUP began with Block A, which was
the standard B-1B with the capability to deliver
non-precision gravity bombs. Block B brought
an improved Synthetic Aperture Radar, and
upgrades to the Defensive Countermeasures
System and was fielded in 1995. Block C provided
an ‘enhanced capability’ for delivery of up to
thirty CBUs per sortie. Block D added a ‘Near
Precision Capability’ via improved weapons
and targeting systems and added advanced
secure communications capabilities. The first
part of the electronic countermeasures upgrade
COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
added Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM),
ALE-50 towed decoy system, and anti-jam radios.
Block E upgraded the avionics computers and
incorporated the Wind Corrected Munitions
Dispenser (WCMD), the AGM-154 Joint Standoff
Weapon (JSOW) and the AGM-158 JASSM (Joint
Air to Surface Standoff Munition), substantially
improving the bomber’s capability, and these
upgrades were completed in September 2006.
Block F was the Defensive Systems Upgrade
Program (DSUP) to improve the aircraft’s
electronic countermeasures and jamming
capabilities, but it was cancelled in December
2002 due to cost overruns and schedule slips.
In 2005, a program began to upgrade
crew stations and integrate data linking. A B-1,
equipped with the fully integrated data link
(FIDL) first flew on 29 July 2009, and the FIDL
enables electronic data sharing, eliminating the
need to enter information between systems
by hand. In January 2013, Boeing delivered the
first integrated battle station (IBS) equipped B-1.
This replaced several displays with new multi-
function colour display units, an upgraded central
integrated test system, and a newer aircraft
performance monitoring computer. n June 2012,
the B-1Bs are receiving Sustainment-Block 16
upgrades to add Link 16 networking and digital
flight instrumentation. In 2007, the Sniper XR
targeting pod was integrated on the B-1 fleet.
This pod is mounted on an external hardpoint
at the aircraft’s chin near the forward bomb bay.
Following accelerated testing, the Sniper pod
was fielded in summer 2008. In February 2014,
work began on a multi-year upgrade of sixty-two
B-1Bs. The vertical situation display upgrade
(VSDU) replaced existing flight instruments with
multifunction colour displays, a second display
aids with threat evasion and targeting, and act
as a back-up display, and additional memory
capacity was to be installed for the diagnostics
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
database. Other additions are to replace the two
spinning mass gyroscopic inertial navigation
system with ring laser gyroscopic systems and a
GPS antenna, replacement of the APQ-164 radar
with the Scalable Agile Beam Radar – Global
Strike (SABR-GS) active electronically scanned
array, and a new attitude indicator. In August
2019, the Air Force unveiled a modification to the
B-1B to allow it to carry more weapons internally
and externally. This configuration also enables it
to carry heavier such as hypersonic missiles and
the AGM-183 ARRW is planned for integration
onto the bomber.
The B-1 was first used in combat in support
of operations in Iraq during Operation ‘Desert
Fox’ in December 1998, employing unguided
GP weapons. B-1s have been subsequently used
in Operation ‘Allied Force’ and, most notably, in
Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ in Afghanistan.
The B-1 has deployed an array of conventional
weapons in war zones, most notably the
GBU-31, Joint Direct Attack Munition(JDAM).
In the first six months of Operation ‘Enduring
Freedom’, eight B-1s dropped almost forty
percent of aerial ordnance, including some 3,900
JDAMs. At the height of the Iraq War, a B-1 was
continuously kept airborne to provide rapid
precision bombardment upon important targets
as intelligence identified them. In March 2011,
B-1Bs from Ellsworth Air Force Base attacked
undisclosed targets in Libya as part of Operation
‘Odyssey Dawn’. Beginning in 2014, the B-1 was
used by the US against the Islamic State (IS),
and from August 2014 to January 2015, the B-1
accounted for eight percent of USAF sorties
during Operation ‘Inherent Resolve’. The 9th
Bomb Squadron was deployed to Qatar in July
2014 to support missions in Afghanistan, but
when the air campaign against IS began on 8
August, the aircraft were employed in Iraq.
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
15

COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER

Bad to the Bone
Mark Thompson
builds the 1:144
Academy B-1B

B-1B Lancer
Manufacturer: Academy
The fit is extremely good Scale: 1:144
and really feels like a Bandai Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
style kit in the way parts fit together. Kit Number: 12620
The cockpit detail is adequate for scale and
the kit only provides a decal for the instrument
panel and center console. Using some reference
pictures obtained online I added detail to the
seats and scratch built some seat belts out of
Tamiya tape. The cockpit interior, the side walls
and floor were painted using Mr Color H317 Dark

M
y first impressions of this new
tooled kit by Academy, is that the
engineering looks excellent and
a lot of thought has been put
into where the parts attach to
minimise clean ups. The mouldings are up to a
very high standard, which is to be expected from
a new tooled kit, with no flash whatsoever and
crisp recessed panel lines. The only clear part in
the kit was the canopy, which was perfect, plus
the addition of a canopy paint mask, which was a
nice touch. Is good to see a manufacturer aiming
a kit at the younger,
or less experienced
modeler or someone
looking for a mojo build.
To be clear, this is not a
snap-together kit, more like
a Bandai style kit in its moulding
and the way it’s designed to go together.
The instructions are very typical of the newer
Academy releases and easy to follow. As per all
Academy kits the paint call outs are available
for a lot of manufactures, but I will be using
the Hobby Color converter app for the Tamiya
equivalents, where required.
Gull Grey, H52 Olive Drab, Tamiya XF-1 Black
and XF-2 White, then I weathered and detailed
the area using a dry brushing of XF-19 Sky Grey.
Finally, a black pin-wash was added to make it
all stand out. Once glued into place on the lower
fuselage half along with the two-wing ratchet
stops, I fixed the hinges into the one-piece
wings. I was really impressed with the moulding
here and how the swept wing mechanism was
achieved. The upper fuselage half was then
added, which again was a great fit, and whilst I
might have been able to leave it without glue,
I used Tamiya Extra Thin to fix the fuselage
halves together. The fuselage seam
required very little filling and sanding, but that
was it for the entire build. The clear canopy was
masked with the supplied paint mask and I
painted the inside of the canopy a 30:70 mix of
Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow with X-19 Smoke.
The weapons were nicely moulded and
simple to put together, and the kit does
offer the option to
configure different
weapon load outs.
They were painted using
Mr Color H52 Olive Drab and

YOU GET THREE DECAL

OPTIONS AND I CHOSE
86-0129 ‘BLACK WIDOW’
16 COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 COMBAT ZONE
F IG H T ING COLO U R S
H308 Light Ghost Grey. The F101
engine nozzles are correctly
depicted without their
‘turkey feathers’ and these
were painted H18 Mr Color
Steel and then dry-brushed
with XF 16 Flat Aluminum to
bring out the nozzle actuators.
Another impressive bit of slide-
mould technology was demonstrated
with the one-piece tail cone which slips
perfectly onto the fuselage. This was decision
time in the build - the kit comes with different
gear doors for landing gear extended or raised.
Additionally, you can have the bomb bay open
to display the weapons or closed if you so wish.
I decided to have the bomb bay open and
wheels down. A word of caution here - while
the instructions don’t mention it, this model
will be a tail-sitter with the wings swept aft, so
the nose cone was filled with lead shot. The
attachment of all the ‘fiddly bits’, liable to be
broken while painting and decaling are left off
until the final assembly stage. These parts are
the weapons, bomb bay doors, under carriage,
under carriage doors and the one-piece tail to
help me hold the model in the painting stages.
I used Mr Surfacer 1500 to prime the entire
model followed by XF-54 Dark Sea Grey to pre-
shade the panel lines before applying the final
Gunship Grey FS 36118 using Mr Color H305.
This was followed up with some post-shading
to give a slight faded look to the centre of the
panels by adding a touch of Mr Color H308
17
COMBAT ZONE – B-1 LANCER
gunship grey. This was then sealed in with a coat
of Vallejo Gloss before the entire lower surface
was masked up and the wheel and bomb bays
were painted Mr Color H316 Insignia White. This
was followed by a black pin-wash to make the
details stand out. I also painted all small parts in
preparation for the final construction stage. The
wheels were all painted XF-85 Rubber Black and
the wheel hubs Mr Color H316 Insignia White.
Then it was all sealed in with a Vallejo Gloss
coat before a black pin-wash. You get three
decal options for 86-0129 ‘Black Widow’, Osan
AB September 2016, S 86-0124, RAF Fairford
September 2017, and 86-0123 March 2017. I
began the process of fixing the decals,
using the ‘Black Widow’ option for
this build. The decals all went
on well using Micro Set
and Sol. I then sealed
everything in
with a Vallejo Gloss coat, before
applying Flory Models Grey Wash
to making the panel lines stand
out, I finished with a Satin coat to
bring everything together.
I fitted all of the smaller parts taking care
to ensure that the wheel hubs were fitted
correctly. The landing gear and weapons were
a bit awkward to install being in such a small
scale especially when trying not to damage
the paintwork. The kit comes with two sets of
wing sweep fairings - I used the one tailored
for full-aft sweep, as you can sweep the wings
forward with that fairing, however, you can’t
sweep the wings aft with the other fairing
installed. Once again, the wing fairing parts
fitted snuggly without the need of gluing, so
could be swapped around if careful. I must
say I thoroughly enjoyed this straight-from-
the-box build, to produce a great replica of an
iconic bomber. The quality of the moulding,
the fit and final representation of the model
captures the B-1Bs beautiful design. It is nice
to finally have a new-tool B-1B on the market
and in 1:144 it makes a great display piece
representing the current configuration of the
aircraft, right down to the JDAM bombs and
Sniper XR targeting pod. MA
18 OREGON EAGLE WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Oregon Eagle
Stuart Barry builds the 1:48 Hasegawa F-15C with some very the
colourful markings!

T
he F-15 is possibly one of my all-time F-15C Eagle
favourite jets. So, it was a surprise Manufacturer: Hasegawa
that I didn’t have one in my display Scale: 1:48
cabinet, despite having several Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
unmade in my collection. So, to Kit Number: 07249
rectify this I selected the 1:48 Hasegawa F-15C
because of its overall quality, but unfortunately
the decals had seen better days, so I needed
to find a replacement. I managed to source a
Monogram F-15C with a beautiful eagle design,
and the decals from this kit would be ideal.
Construction was typical of many model
aircraft beginning with the cockpit. A nice
electronics bay is located behind a basic ejector
seat that sits in a nicely detailed office. The
overall colour I used was Gunze Aircraft Grey,
and Tamiya NATO Black for the ejector seat. The
electronics bay was painted in Gunze RLM 65.
Everything was then darkened down with
a Tamiya Panel Line wash, which also
brought out the detail. The air intakes
were constructed and painted in
Tamiya Flat White XF-2 and
then sandwiched between
the two fuselage halves.
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Once glued together only a small amount of
filling and sanding was required. The two rear
nose halves were brought together, and the
separate nose cone was glued in place. A small
amount of filling and sanding was needed
here, but no nose weight is required. The
wings were a much easier affair, just two good
fitting halves to be brought together and
glued. The weapons pylons were not
needed for this particular build. I
also worked on other things like the
centre fuel tank and landing gear
assemblies. The gear assemblies
were painted in Tamiya X-2 Gloss
White and again a panel line
wash was used to bring out
the details. There are two fuel
tanks supplied in the kit to
be placed under each wing
as required. The landing
gear bays and inside of
the doors were
painted in
Tamiya X-2 Gloss
THE HUGE DECAL SHEET PROVIDED A SPLENDID EAGLE THAT
WAS WELL DESIGNED AND WELL PRINTED
19
OREGON EAGLE
White, and again detailed with applied and dried fully, White-Tac
panel line accent. sausages with lots of masking
The entire model was then tape were used to create the
coated in a thin mix of Tamiya upper surface camouflage
XF-19 Sky Grey, thinned with pattern. Once fully dried
Mr Color levelling thinner. Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss was
Any roughness left was then used again with levelling
buffed out with a thinner to prepare for the
soft cloth. Tamiya huge decals to come.
NATO Black was used The huge decal sheet provided
to pre-shade on the panel a splendid eagle that was well
lines to give some depth to the designed and well printed, and
top layers. My original plan was being so large, extreme care was
to use Mr Hobby FS36375 for the taken when applying them. Warm
overall base colour with Mr Hobby water was used to separate the
FS36320 for the camouflage decals, and a generous amount
pattern on top. However, there was also applied to the model
was next to no difference to help with all the positioning
between the two colours, so adjustments that would be needed.
I swapped the FS36320 for Even though they were designed
Vallejo Model Air 71.120 for the monogram kit, they fitted the
36320, which looked much Hasegawa kit perfectly. Once in place
better. Once the base coat a soft flat brush was used to tease the
of FS36375 was water out from underneath the decals
and Micro Sol was used to help them
conform. The decals were then sealed
in with a few coats of Tamiya X-35 Satin,
this time not using levelling thinners but
20 OREGON EAGLE WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

a home-made brew for acrylic paint. I wanted

this to be a clean show bird, so weathering
would be kept to the bare minimum. I just ran a
dark dirt wash into the panel lines and decided
not to give the model an overall general wash.
Once the wash was removed with a damp
cloth, I then sealed everything in
with another coat of Tamiya X-35
Satin. At this stage I applied all
the small external components
including the landing gear and
flaps and even added a ladder
into the cockpit. I was extremely
satisfied with the end result,
as his particular F-15 really
does stand out from
the rest. The only
drawback was the
Hasegawa afterburners
were for the early version and not
the late, which this particular F-15 has.
However, this can easily be rectified at
some point in the future. MA
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021

07668 E-Type Jaguar Coupé, 1:24

05677 Gift Set - Top Gun Movies, 1:72

05678 Gift Set - Slave 1, 1:88 - includes poster

05679 Gift Set - Snowspeeder, 1:29 - includes poster

05680 Gift Set - AT-AT, 1:53 - includes poster

Available from all good model

stockists and online from

hobbycraft.co.uk/brand/revell
22 GRUMMAN OV-1B MOHAWK WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

SUPER DETAILED
Mohawk Uger Kenel adds a host of extras to the
1:48 Roden OV-1D in Argentine colours
Grumman OV-1B Mohawk
Manufacturer: Roden
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 410

T
he Grumman OV-1 Mohawk was
an armed military observation and
attack aircraft that was designed
for battlefield surveillance and light
strike capabilities. The Mohawk’s
first flight was in 1957 and the first aircraft flew
in 1960 as a visual observation aircraft. Initial
production models were ordered for the US
Army as the OV-1A and centred around day and
night visual reconnaissance using conventional
camera systems. The OV-1B soon followed,
offering a different radar suite and a Side-
Looking Airborne Radar, mounted in a large
under-fuselage pod, although this version
was fitted without the optical cameras of the
preceding model. The similar OV-1C was next
up, fitted with an AAS-24 infrared surveillance
system while the definitive model was the
OV-1D, featuring
improved engine
specifications,
a side-loading bay
door for small amounts cargo and additional
sensors. A total of 380 OV-1 Mohawks were
produced between 1957 and 1969 and served
the US Army in Europe, Korea, the Vietnam
War, Central and South America, Alaska, and
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 23

SUPER DETAILED MOHAWK

Here you can see the cockpit parts provided by Here are the flight instruments and the clear The Eduard set provided much
Roden. So some improvement was needed! gauges provided in the kit better cockpit details

Here you can see the

cockpit with Eduard
additions, looking much
more realistic

Here you can see the

completed cockpit Main assembly of the
with seats added instrument panels of the
OV-1 now with Eduard
parts added. More detail
painting is stil needed

Here is the rear electronic section provided by

the Black Dog resin parts. Painting was difficult
because of limited space in the bays, and I used
some extra decals to add more detail
24 GRUMMAN OV-1B MOHAWK WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Another part of the

Black Dog set, again
carefully painted

The Black Dog resin engine was first painted a
base grey colour and then given a black wash, and
then detail painted
Here you can see one of the rear fuselage panels
being cut out ready to accept the Black Dog resin
parts
Here is nose landing gear bay provided by Roden,
but the extra detail comes from Eduard

The Eduard Big Ed set ensures plenty of detail is

available around the airframe
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 25

SUPER DETAILED MOHAWK

Ready for painting

Adding Eduard etch to the main wheel wells

The first colour applied

was Vallejo Black
26 GRUMMAN OV-1B MOHAWK WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Then I masked sections instead Next I airbrushed the main colour,

of using decals for these areas which was Vallejo Grey, and once dry I
provided by Roden added a Vallejo Gloss coat

during ‘Desert Storm’ in the Middle East. Argentina’s Army Aviation

received twenty-three OV-1 in the 1990’s. Ten were operational
and the rest were used for spare parts. The final Argentina Mohawk
was retired from use in 2015. For this project I used the 1:48 Roden
OV-1B Mohawk. The contents of the box included specific parts
for D model. So, I chose to portray that variant in Argentine service
with a lot of extras. Here are the detail sets that I used for this build,
including a Big Ed set from Eduard, a Black Dog Electronics Set and
Engine Set, a Quickboost Exhaust Set, Ejector Seats, Air Intakes,
Engine Cowlings and Air Scoops plus Aires Wheels and Condor
Argentine Decals. MA

For the markings I used a set from Condor Decals The Aires wheels are far mor detailed than those provided in the kit
Cat. No. 82103 www.eduard.com

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28 MQ-9 REAPER UAV
Grant Dalzell builds the
1:72 Kinetic MQ-9 UAV
Fear the
Reaper
U
AV’s or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
may seem a boring subject to make
a model of, but they have become
a very essential tool for surveillance
or delivering a weapons strike on a
target, whilst the operator sits possibly on the
other side of the world, taking out the potential
risk of losing an actual pilot in a conventional
aircraft. The MQ-9 Reaper is operated by the
United States Air Force, United States Customs
and Border Protection, Royal Air Force and
the Italian Air Force. Other countries that have
or are in the process of getting the Reaper
include Australia, Dominican Republic, France,
Germany, Netherlands, Spain, India and
Belgium. This build is of Kinetic’s re-boxing of
the 2011’s Skunk Models MQ-9. Although it is
1:72, it still has a wingspan of 279mm! This kit
has decal options for eight operators, including
Texas Air National Guard, New York National
Guard, Royal Air Force, French Air Force, Italian
Air Force, Netherlands Air Force, Spanish
Air Force, and finally the option I did, Royal
Australian Air Force.
This build started by gluing the landing gear
bays into the bottom of the fuselage. Straight
from the start there is a wrong part call out in
step one. The part I needed was B3, but the
instructions call out for 36? Another thing I
noted the plastic was pretty soft, not that is
an issue, but the sprue gates are very large.
Although thes gear bays are small, Kinetic
have managed to put an injector pin right in
where it will be seen, so I used a small chisel to
scrape this out best I could. After these were
glued in, the wings go on. These are moulded
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
MQ-9 Reaper UAV
Manufacturer: Kinetic
Scale: 1:72
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 72004
solid, so no gluing halves together. They fit as a
male/female system internally in the fuselage.
Once the wings were fixed, I glued on the top
fuselage, and I also added some lead weight up
front. The instructions call for this, but don’t say
how much.
Next I glued together the engine housing
and camera system (the camera is very basic),
and both of these are made up of two parts.
Gluing these on to the fuselage, I then cleaned
up the seam lines and used Tamiya White Putty
where required. There are three stabilisers, two
main upper and one small lower, and these are
one-piece mouldings and fit well. There are
several sensors and antennae that need to go
on as well as the pitot at this stage. I painted
the landing gear bays Tamiya XF-2 Flat White
and masked them off ready for painting the
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 29

FEAR THE REAPER

Landing gear bays going in

The wings fit is

A small chisel was easily enough
needed to remove
ejector pins

THESE DRONES ARE KEPT PRISTINE, SO ONLY A

PANEL LINE WASH WAS USED

Gluing on the top

fuselage part

Adding the
stabilisers

The Hellfire missiles and racks

exterior. Painting the fuselage - yes nothing
exciting here - drones are grey! I primed the
model with AK Interactive Grey Primer, and
then added some pre-shading to the panel
lines and select areas. As drones are generally
kept immaculate, there would be no fading
or tonal variance. The call out for the fuselage
was Mr Hobby H308 Grey (FS36375) I used this
thinned with Mr Levelling thinner.
The landing gear consists of five parts. The
front gear leg is moulded with the wheel as one
part, and the rear has two legs and two separate
wheels to go on the legs. The instructions were
wrong on the rear legs, calling for the wrong
number, but the legs are keyed and can only
go one way. The rear legs were the same colour
as the aircraft, but the front leg is black and
magnesium, and here I used Tamiya X-18 Semi-
Gloss Black and Vallejo Metal Color Magnesium.
The propeller and spinner are moulded as one,
and care needs to be taken getting this small
part out with large sprue gates attached to it.
Also, the propellor blades are very delicate and
thin at the tips. There is also a rear hub piece
that glues on to propeller. The fit of the rear
hub isn’t good as there are large gaps around
the blades that needed filling. I painted the
propeller blades up first and then masked them
off in order to paint the spinner and hub. The
spinner looks to be polished aluminium, so here
I used AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Chrome.
For the weapons, you get two GBU-12 laser
guided bombs and four Hellfire missiles. The
Hellfire missiles are moulded as one piece and
the GBU-12 bombs are made up of two halves
and add two fins. The weapons pylons are also
The GBU-12
pieces
moulded as one-piece. The instructions give
call outs for the weapon colours, but there are
many photographs on the internet of Reapers
loaded up, and I used these as my guide. As
the drone was a monotone colour, I was using
weapons to give the model a bit more colour.
After everything had been painted, the model
and other bits received a coat of Mr Color Gloss
Super Clear III to protect paint work.
30 MQ-9 REAPER UAV WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

The decals were by Cartograf, and up to

their usual high standards. As I did the RAAF
scheme, there were only the roundels to
add to the airframe, as at this time I do not
believe the Reaper has entered RAAF service.
Unfortunately, the orientation of these was
incorrect, as one faces the wrong way! I put it
on anyway. All the other versions have more

Pre-shading just on panel lines

going on in the decal department,

and if you wanted some more colour, the
Texas Air National Guard scheme has some
colourful tail art. Weathering was no more
than some Flory Models Dark Dirt Wash
into the panel lines to give some depth.
As mentioned, these drones are kept
pristine, so anything more would be too Mr Hobby H308 Grey was
much. All that remained then was to add the shade used on the
airframe
the landing gear and weapons. This kit is not
without its faults, but it is inexpensive and if
you are looking for a quick build, I can happily
recommend it. MA

A Flory Models Dark Dirt gave

the panel lines some depth
 1/48
S
cale Aviation
Modeller
International
provides a unique
and innovative
FINN
experience for all types
of modeller, from the
complete beginner to E MiG-21 family covered in both 1/72
the most experienced.
Each month we offer
a wide range of news,
reviews, and full build 42
features from around
1/48
the world, written
by our international
team of contributors
including many with a
worldwide reputation
in their field. It is this
combination of expert
writing and content
that has made our
title the most popular
choice with modellers
not only in the UK but
also around the world.
54
MA PUBLICATIONS
S
cale Military
Modeller
Magazine is
the magazine for the
Armour Modeller and
enthusiast alike, you
will find news, reviews
and a feature packed
format, with top quality
photography and
high-end production
values making SMMI
the ‘Worlds No.1
Military Modelling
Magazine’. You will find
some exclusive builds
features from the likes
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many others. And When
it comes to reference
material SMMI has some
of the very best. No
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magazine delivers the
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content that you will
find in SMMI!
MA PUBLICATIONS
MIG-21BIS PROFIPACK
Ashley Dunn Builds the 1/48
Eduard MiG-21BIS ProfiPACK
A FIGHTING
OVERVIEW
duard have pretty much got the
and 1/48 scales, having released
multiple variants over the last
decade or so and are widely regarded as
the go to kit for the subject. This is the
ProfiPACK version of the BIS version (which
was optimised primarily as a fighter aircraft).
The kit comprises of eight sprues in Eduard’s
usual dark blue/grey plastic two of which
are dedicated to weapons/ordnance and
one clear sprue. There’s also the addition
of a masking sheet and two etched frets,
one of which is full colour mainly for the
cockpit and the other standard brass
colour for various areas over the external
airframe. The plastic has recessed panel
lines with the addition of localised rivets
in some areas. The clear parts have no
distortion and the clarity is very good.
THE BUILD
Work began in the cockpit and Eduard
provide instrument panels in both raised
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
MIG-21UM
AFRICAN
TRAINER
Snorre Sandviken builds the
1/48 Trumpeter MiG-21UM in
Angolan Markings
BACKGROUND
s the MiG-21 was so radically
A
different from any other machine
used up until then in the USSR,
it quickly became necessary
to bring out a two-seat version for pilot
training, In November 1959, a MiG-21F-13 was
taken off the production line and modified,
with a second seat being installed and both
pilot and student were housed in a single
monobloc canopy, hinging towards the
right. The first two-seat version, the MiG-
21U had neither radar nor fixed weapons,
and the prototype flew for the first time
on 17 October 1960, and this version was
thereafter built in large numbers. Like
the single-seaters, the two-seat MiG-21s
also evolved, The MiG-21UM featured here,
was basically outwardly identical to its
forerunners, and it was only the equipment
and the instruments that were improved,
and in addition, four underwing pylons were
fitted. This version replaced the other earlier
on the assembly lines from around 1971.
The Angola conflict consisted of The
FNLA Marxist government, supported by the
USSR and its allies on one side and UNITA,
backed by South Africa and the Western
Powers on the other. The first batch of
MiG-21s to wear Angolan markings were
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
marder iii
Scale 1:35 / German Tank Destroyer
Destruction
MATT EDWARDS BUILDS THE
1:35 TAMIYA MARDER III TANK
DESTROYER
6 7
SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
M21
Scale 1:35 / Mortar Carrier
Big Build Mortar Marauder
2 6 SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
and flat detail. The former can be used
with the supplied decals showing all the
dials, switches, and the latter to be used
with the etch and provides a good surface
for adhesion. Both options look good, but
I decided I’d use the photo etch. The only
minor issue with this is matching the paint. I
mixed a small batch made from Tamiya X-5
(Green) and X-14 (Sky Blue) with a few drops
of white to lighten. I can’t remember the
exact ratios I used in the end but was made
by eye. It’s not an exact match but it’s pretty
close. The cockpit parts and fuselage halves
were painted appropriately with the mixed
paint and left to dry. I completed as much of
the cockpit sub-assemblies including photo
etch, gave them an oil wash/added some
pigments and then set aside for later. At this
point there was no mention of the ejector
seat, so I flicked through the instructions
to see this was made as one of the latter
items. I decided against this as I wanted to
dry fit the seat into the cockpit to ensure
it was okay prior to gluing the cockpit into
the fuselage. The seat itself is a mini kit in
flown in by Soviet Air Force Antonov An-22
airlifters and reassembled in March 1976.
A few months later the USSR sent two
MiG-21 trainers together with pilots and a
support staff of volunteers. Unfortunately,
accurate figures of the number of MiG-
21 procured are not available, however,
serials were prefixed C for fighter and
I for trainer. The 24th AIR Instructional
Regiment, Fighter Training Squadron were
equipped with seven MiG-21USs and five
MiG-21UMs. At first the aircraft were flown
not by Angolans but by Soviet, Cuban and
East European volunteers and mercenaries.
However, slowly but surely Angolan
pilots were trained and gained enough
experience to man the MiG-21 squadrons.
LANDING GEAR AND ENGINE
For some reason I’ve always liked the MiG-
21UM. Its shape just looks so right and was
a version I really wanted to build. I have of
late been fascinated by African aircraft and
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T: +44 (0) 1234 331431 E: info@modelaircraftmag.com
Appetite for
KEVIN POTTS SUPER DETAILS THE DRAGON M21
MORTAR CARRIER
dragon
T
he M21 Mortar Motor
Carriage (MMC) was a self-
propelled artillery mount on
a half-track chassis used by
the United States Army during World War II.
It was equipped with an 81mm
M1 mortar and an air-cooled
M2 Browning machine gun
and was produced by the
White Motor Company in
1944. Only 110 examples were
produced. The M21 mainly
served on the Western Front
in Normandy, and Southern
France, and then later in the Ardennes
during the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of
Belgium, Operation Market Garden, and the
invasion of Germany from the west. It was
deemed to have been outclassed in 1945
PO Box 1592 | Bedford | MK40 9FD | UK
T: +44 (0) 1234 331431 E: info@modelaircraftmag.com
KIT DETAILS
MIG-21BIS PROFIPACK
MANUFACTURER: Eduard
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded
plastic
KIT NUMBER: 8232
its own right and is make up of no less than
eighteen pieces and that’s not including
belts! The result of this however is a lovely
well detailed rendition. Eduard even provide
decals for the headrest and side. This was
made up, painted, weathered, test fitted and
then set aside for a late addition. Meanwhile,
I started work on the front wheel well which
incidentally is part of the underside cockpit
floor. I also prepared the parts for the rear
wheel well. The front comprises of two sides
and forward and rear bulkhead – relatively
simple. The rear is exactly the same with
two sides and a front and rear bulkhead
the only difference being these parts are
KIT DETAILS
MIG-21UM
MANUFACTURER: Trumpeter
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: plastic injection
moulded with etch
KIT NUMBER: 02865
FineMolds Nano Aviation Seat
Belts #48 NC09
Berna Decals #BD 48-98
after a little research this one was going to
be Angolan. So, I acquired a set of decals
and dug out a suitable Trumpeter kit from
my stash. Unlike most kits the instructions
did not call for starting with the cockpit,
but rather the nose gear-bay. I usually build
according to the manual, but this time I
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M21 Mortar Carrier
Manufacturer: Dragon
Scale: 1:35
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded with etch
Kit Number: 6362
when the 81mm M1 mortar
was found to have insufficient
power to provide effective
artillery support. The M21
had a different layout from
the early M4 and M4A1 MMC,
as it was the replacement of
the M4. The major difference
was that the M21 and the M4 were based
on different half-tracks (the M4 was based
on the M2 Half-track while the M21 was
based on the M3 Half-track). Another main
difference was the location and direction of
www.modelaircraftmag.com
In the wheel
wells there are
pipes to paint
yellow and a few
detail items in
plastic to add
curved to follow the shape of the fuselage.
There are pipes to paint yellow and a
few detail items in plastic that are added
to the wells that when complete provide a
nicely detailed bay out the box. The colours
of the main wells are somewhat varied and
differed between airframes and air forces,
so I’d recommend checking your references.
Eduard provide two options as being RLM02
and Interior green. My references showed
a grey green with a light grey on the lower
The seats
are also well
moulded
decided to go another way to make it more
efficient. I cut free all the parts needed for
the gear bays, the engine section and the
cockpit, and after test fitting these parts no
fit issues were found, I carefully grouped
them, so they wouldn’t get mixed in with each
other. By doing it that way I figured I could
easier do all the internal painting before
assembly. Everything was then primed
using Alclad Grey Primer and Microfiller ALC
302 lightly thinned with Hataka Orange line
Thinner HTK-XP03. This made the primer
dry much smoother. The gear bays were
then coated using Mr Paint Sukhoi Cockpit
blue MRP-195, before details like the hoses
and oxygen bottles were picked out with
a brush, using Ammo by MIG Gold Yellow
A.MIG-0125, Matt Black A.MIG-0046) and
Bluish Titanium A.MIG-0193. The parts were
then gloss coated using Hataka HTK-XP09.
When dry, and Ammo by Neutral Wash
A.MIG-1010 was applied with a brush and
left to dry. This was then blended using
RESEARCH
Marder III was the
name for a series of
World War II German
tank destroyers.
They mounted
either the modified
ex-Soviet 76.2 mm
F-22 Model 1936
divisional field gun,
or the German 7.5 cm
PaK 40, in an open-
topped fighting
compartment on
top of the chassis
of the Panzer
38(t). They offered
little protection
to the crew, but
added significant
firepower compared
to contemporary
German tanks. They
were in production
from 1942 to 1944
and served on all
fronts until the end of
the war, along with
the similar Marder II.
The German word
Marder means
“marten” in English.
the mortar as the M4’s mortar
was rear-facing and was near the back,
while the M21’s mortar was front-facing and
was closer to the front. The mortar was able
to traverse 30° either side and elevate from
40 to 80 degrees. If required, it could be
de-mounted from the vehicle and fired from
the ground. In addition, there was a pedestal
mount at the rear for a .50 cal (12.7mm) M2
heavy machine gun. The M4 was developed
to meet the need for a specialised mortar
carrier based on the M2 Half Track Car, which
the M21 soon replaced. The initial M4 was
designed to carry a mortar. In emergencies,
the mortar could be fired from the vehicle.
The improved M4A1 had a reinforced floor
so that the mortar could be fired from the
vehicle, but the mounting faced to the rear
and lacked traverse. This caused problems
when the troops who operated the mortar
mounted the vehicle, so the US 2nd
Armoured Division relocated the mortars so
that they could fire from the front. The M21
EDUARD PRETTY MUCH HAVE THE
MIG-21 COVERED IN BOTH 1/72
AND 1/28 SCALES, HAVING
RELEASED MULTIPLE VARIANTS
OVER THE LAST DECADE OR SO
The cockpit ready
for installation
section of the wells, so I opted for Tamiya
XF-22 (RLM Grey) and Gunze H51 (Light Gull
Grey). The next step was the engine and
exhaust area. This is made of several parts
in plastic and a few etched items, namely
the afterburner rings. The inside was painted
Tamiya XF-63 (German Grey) and weathered
with oils and pigments to give that burnt
and scorched appearance. Looking up the
‘pipe’ after completion provides a satisfying
The fusealge ready to be
buttoned up
The engine parts ready for assembly
Test fitting
everything I the
cockpit
a paper towel. The parts were then coated
in matt varnish before being assembled.
The nose gear bay was made so that the
leg for the nose gear needed be added at
this point, however, I prefer to add it much
later in the process, but I had no choice.
COCKPIT
The cockpit parts were now sprayed using
Ammo by MIG Interior Turquoise Green
A.MIG-0223. A few raised buttons were
then picked out, before all the parts were
coated in Hataka Gloss. I decided to go with
the cockpit decals instead of the etched
parts, and they conformed nicely having
been given a healthy dose of softener. When
the decals were in place, another coat of
I HAVE OF LATE BEEN FASCINATED BY AFRICAN
AIRCRAFT AND AFTER A LITTLE RESEARCH
THIS ONE WAS GOING TO BE ANGOLAN
German Tank Destroyer
tamiya
B
eing a member of the
Veterans Support
Association has many
benefits, if any ex-
service member is going through
a tough time, they are there as the
title says to support veterans and
one of the many ways, they do this, is
to kindly give you a grant for you to
purchase something for your chosen
hobby. A great idea and many have
taken them up on this offer, which
as we all know having a hobby can
help you relax and take your mind off
of things. John Joyce is the founder
and started the association in 2015
and it was he who contacted me and
informed me that I could have a small
grant to choose a model of my choice.
How great is that! So, having a browse
on the net I decided that for once I
would move away from camouflage
schemes and try my hand at an all
grey vehicle and Tamiya’s Marder lll
fitted the bill. So, after the kit arriving
and then buying an Eduard detail
set as the Marder has been out a
served with the US 3rd, 1st, and 7th
Armies during the campaign in France,
and the 2nd Armoured Division, and in
addition, fifty-seven examples were leased
to Free French forces.
I have to say that I like the challenge
provided by open topped vehicles with all
their extra detail, so when I got my hands
on Dragon’s M21 Mortar Motor Carriage I
decided to build an example from the 2nd
Armoured Division, found in and around the
Ardennes area during 1945. The build began
with the complete engine and some of the
drive train. I them moved onto the chassis
frame, the cab and the rear end. I built these
The etched radiator louvres are really nice
The cockpit,
painted and ready
for assembly
The ejector seat
is a kit in itself
and well detailed exhaust section. The
last item before moving onto the fuselage
halves was the nose cone. This was primed
in Vallejo Grey before painting with Hataka
C327 (Radome Green). Once painted I added
some fishing lead shot inside and poured
in some PVA glue to hold in place. With
all the sub-assemblies completed I could
then add and glue these to one fuselage
half. I did a quick dry fit prior to committing
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
The cockpit parts are
nicely detailed
The completed seats, painted up
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
marder iii
German Tank Destroyer
Marder III
Sd.Kfz.139 7.62cm Pak 36(r) auf Gw.38(t)
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Scale: 1:35
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 35248
while now, about nineteen years, so
I thought it may need a bit of help.
I then opened the box to see what
awaited me.
Inside the smallish box, well the
model and come to think of it the real
vehicle isn’t that big, I had a good look
at all of the parts which were all as you’d
expect, cleanly and crisply moulded in
dark yellow plastic. There were a few
ejector marks that would need dealing
with and with the Eduard set replacing
some parts I was hoping I could build
a fairly good model. I decided to stay
with the one-piece rubber track
which had some nice detail and was
pretty pliable so should sit well around
the sprockets and running gear. As
well as the vehicle there are two crew
included and I quite liked the poses
but decided I would need to add new
heads and also a little carving on some
of the detail later. The instruction sheet
is printed in black and white and on
the front is a brief history of the vehicle
and then within the following pages
are the stages which looked easy to
follow. At the back are five drawings
of the vehicle and where to put the
decal markings. The decals looked well
printed and not overly thick which can
be a problem with some kits. So happy
with everything and then looking
at all of the brass in the Eduard set
which I must say has a lot of very nice
detail to, also a new set of mudguards
should you want to go that far (I
didn’t) the Tamiya ones would be fine.
So on with the build then.
As is the norm for me I’ll go THE PARTS
through the stages and point out
anything that I did or that you should WERE ALL
be aware of and hopefully this’ll help
if you’re about to start or thinking of
AS YOU’D
getting this kit. Stage 1 starts with the EXPECT,
lower hull but wasn’t a tub as usual but
was in fact made of flat plates which
CLEANLY AND
all went together very well with no CRISPLY
trouble at all. There is no inner hull
detail, so I took some periscopes from MOULDED IN
the spares box and added these, which
to be honest was a waste of time, but I
DARK YELLOW
know they are there. Stage 2 guides you PLASTIC
through the suspension and top return
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
the big build
M21 Mortar Marauder
I HAD GREAT FUN ADDING ALL OF THE
EXTRAS TO THE BASE KIT
Care is needed on the suspension
up as main sub-assemblies but didn’t glue
them together, so they would be easier to
detail and paint. I scraped off the accelerator,
brake and clutch pedals, and replaced them
with some stretched sprue and plastic
stock. Both the fuel and water cans came
mounted on the vehicle and moulded into
their holders, so to change things up I used
a gas cap from a Tasca kit for one of the
cans. Afterwards, this can was painted with
a red top to denote fuel instead of water.
The 81mm mortar was missing its sighting
mechanism, so I built one from plastic card
and rod stock. The elevation handle was also
reproduced from copper wire dipped in CA
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM 2 7
ON SALE NOW! Scale Aviation Modeller International – JANUARY 2021
1/72 GRUMMAN F-14A TOMCAT
A FIGHTING FINN
Stephen J Di Nucci builds the 1/72 Fujimi
F-14A Tomcat in the marking of VF-32
Photographs by Phil Jones
PUT TO THE
SWORD
INTRODUCTION
T
he Tomcat really was the top cat!
The F-14 retired from US Navy
service in 2006, but this highly
capable aircraft, together with its
supremely intelligent Phoenix missile system,
is likely to remain a popular modelling
subject for a long time to come. I understand
that Academy’s 2019 Tomcat tooling in 1/72
scale is stunning, but a little while back the
Hasegawa and Fujimi kits used to be the front
runners. My own Fujimi kit had been pretty
much ignored for a long time, until one day
I took the lid off and started to examine it.
My jaw dropped! This was very obviously a
quality production and it screamed ‘build
me’. How on earth could these highly detailed
parts and fine indented detail have a release
date as long ago as 1988? According to
Scalemates on-line, the kit has been re-
released on many occasions since, by Fujimi
most recently in 2016, although it occurs to
me that this possibly was not in UK, as I can’t
43 48 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
1/48
AV-8A US MARINE CORPS
AFRICAN TRAINER
MARINES
MUD MOVER
Rene Van Der Hart
looks at the new 1/48
Kinetic AV-8A Harrier
THE KIT
inetic’s latest AV-8A was released
K shortly after their almost identical
RAF GR.1/3 version, and as far as
I can determine from looking at
the parts, the content of both release are
the same, apart from the decals of course.
The box is full of some delicious plastic,
and all sprues come separately sealed in
their own plastic bags. The decals look
very good, as can be expected as they are
printed by Cartograf. Since this is a brand
new kit, no aftermarket parts are available
yet, so any extra detailing had to be done
from bits and pieces from my ‘spares-box’.
I added a little extra rivet detailing
55 64 SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
ON SALE NOW! Scale Military Modeller International – JANUARY 2021
soviet army
Scale: 1:35 / Six Wheel Truck
Cold War
Trucking
JEZZ COLEMAN BUILDS THE 1:35 ICM SOVIET SIX WHEEL ARMY TRUCK
50
ICM
T
he KamAZ-4310 General Utility
Truck has been in production
since 1980, and is a militarised
version of commercial
vehicle, and since its introduction it has
become the workhorse of the Soviet military.
This truck has taken part in numerous
military conflicts around the globe and has
a conventional layout, with a front-mounted
engine and a forward control cab. The
baseline version of the KamAZ-4310 has a
1 4
SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
maintenance manual
The AS-90 Self-Propelled Howitzer
Maintenance Manual
The AS-90 Self-Propelled Howitzer
T
he AS-90 was designed and
built by the Armaments
division of Vickers
Shipbuilding and Engineering
(VSEL), whose parent company became
BAe Systems in 1999. The AS-90 was first
deployed by the British Army in 1993, and
were acquired to re-equip six of the eight
self-propelled field artillery regiments (each
of twenty-four guns) in the I (BR) Corps,
replacing the 105 mm FV433 Abbot SPG
and older M109 155 mm Self Propelled
Gun and FH70 towed howitzer. In 1999,
Marconi Electronic Systems was contracted
to upgrade British Army AS-90s to include a
52-calibre gun in order to increase the range
7 2 SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
remember seeing a new one on sale for ages.
So, what’s in the box? Well, it’s an
F-14A ‘Jolly Rogers’, #28002 (1-2), and it’s
utterly comprehensive. It would be easier
to list what’s missing, and that amounts
to four Phoenix not six! Oh, and the rear
airbrake is not separate, and there’s very
little detail on the decking behind the rear
seat! More seriously, though, on the sprues
there are approaching 200 parts including
transparencies, a small steel etched fret and
a choice of rubber tyres, if you like. There’s
a choice of nose gear with the catapult
launch bar in either extended or normal
positions. The gun has the earlier plain
louvres, not the purge vents. Included is a
pair, yes two, displayable engines, each on
its own wheeled dolly, and with an engine
name plaque, in addition to the kit’s own
engines. The engines are the earlier and
troublesome Pratt and Whitney TF-30s, but
Fujimi offer both open and closed nozzles.
Between the nozzles, Fujimi happily avoids
COCKPIT
So, starting with the cockpit, I added a few
plastic strips to act as guide rails for the
ejection seat and a few other smaller details
I could identify from reference images
of the real aircraft. The cockpit was then
primed black and airbrushed grey. The
instrument panel was brush painted and
small some small instrument decals from
another kit were cut out and put into place.
general troop/cargo body
with folding down sides
and tailgate. The cargo area
is covered with removable
bows and canvas cover.
However, this military truck
is also available with a
number of body styles, and
has a cross-country terrain limit 6 tonnes,
with a maximum road speed of 8 km/h and
can also tow trailers or artillery pieces. But
enough of the technical data let’s get to the
KIT DETAILS
GRUMMAN F-14A
TOMCAT
MANUFACTURER: Fujimi
SCALE: 1/72
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded
plastic
KIT NUMBER:28002
the earliest slimmer type of boat tail,
instead providing the wider one with both
the fuel dump and the ECM ‘lump’. Best of
all though is the droppable slats and flaps.
And when you start fitting things together
you begin to understand the sheer precision
of the engineering. In spite of appearances,
however, there were a few issues, many of
them my own, and even an accuracy issue.
Hasegawa’s sometimes policy in relation
to providing external weapons is well
known, but Fujimi make no attempt to copy,
and instead allow the modeller virtually a
full set. In the box there are four AIM-54
Phoenix missiles as already noted, two AIM-7
Sparrows and two AIM-9L Sidewinders,
plus pylons and pallets. There is also a pair
of 267-gallon intake mounted tanks and
an optional centreline TARPS recce pod.
However, I noticed an unfortunate collapse
of plastic along a knife-edge on one of the
wing pylons, leaving a ragged edge which
had to be trimmed back slightly. Could have
Unfortunately, no instrument panel decal
was provided in the kit. The seat looks quite
nice but could use something extra. The
back cushion was engraved as on the real
seat, and also the part between headrest
and seat was cut out and pull handles were
added made from brass wire. The texture on
the cushions was made by putting a bit of
Tamiya Putty on them and dabbing this with
a toothbrush. The final parts I added to the
seat after painting were a couple of pre-
coloured seat belts I had. The HUD was
made from one piece of clear plastic
and was a bit crude, so I made a
new one from small plastic strips
and a piece of clear plastic sheet.
The cockpit and
seat in situ
Soviet Six Wheel Army Truck
Manufacturer: ICM
Scale: 1:35
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 35001
build! This will be my first
experience with an ICM kit,
although I’ve heard great
things about them.
The build started with the
chassis, which comprises of
two main legs and several
pieces that require gluing
into the centre section. This was then laid on
a flat hard surface to ensure it dried squarely.
Once set, I then attached the rear leaf
springs and the front bumper. Next up was
OVERALL, I FOUND FUJIMI’S WEAPONS
TO BE EXCELLENT, AND ALL CAME
WITH THEIR OWN DECALS
been my kit only. The instruction sheet is to
the usual Hasegawa/Fujimi style, i.e. rather
small, in fact so small that the runner layout
diagrams are almost useless. Also, the sheet
makes no suggestion for a nose weight,
something that worried me more and more
as the build progressed with the fuselage
already together, especially whilst adding
the tail end components. I had visions of
having to drill a large hole underneath the
nose to accommodate a Frankenstein bolt,
but I needn’t have worried. Another issue
arises when drooping the flaps because
there is no guidance as to how much to drop
them, so a reference image is essential.
THE BUILD
The fuselage is broken down into two major
sections; the nose and crew front fuselage
and the middle/rear section. Work can
begin with either. The front fuselage is split
conventionally, trapping a cockpit moulding
and the nosewheel box between. I airbrushed
the cockpit using the recommended barley
grey, choosing Xtracolor X017. The cockpits
are superb, with panel detail represented
in both relief and by decal - in fact there
are no fewer than eighteen individual panel
decals, including five screens. I found that
the decals applied beautifully over the raised
detail, with the use of a decal potion, plus
sometimes the press of a finger near the
end of the drying stage. The nosewheel box
FUSELAGE
The surface detail of this kit is very good
but I still decided to add a few more rivets
on the wings and fuselage. I didn’t go all
out, and only added those that would the
most visible. Also, the vent on top of the
aircraft was cut out and some plastic strips
were glued on the other side to give it more
depth. These were the only modifications
made. The intake parts were then glued
into the fuselage, and a few tiny gaps on
the undersides were filled and sanded
smooth. Next, the air intake and engine fan
were painted and glued onto the back of the
cockpit. This assembly was then glued into
one side of the fuselage. The mechanism to
make the exhausts swivel was inserted too,
The fuselage with nozzle swivel mechanism
The cassis and drive train
THE AS-90 WAS FIRST DEPLOYED BY THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1993, AND WERE ACQUIRED
TO RE-EQUIP SIX OF THE EIGHT SELF-PROPELLED FIELD ARTILLERY REGIMENTS
of the artillery. Critical to the program was
a bi-modular charge system from Somchem
of South Africa (selected after extensive
trials of ammunition from many suppliers),
which offered greatly reduced barrel wear.
However, this ammunition failed to meet
the requirement for insensitive munitions
and the project was terminated. The As-90
remains in UK service and will equip three
is assembled beneath the front of the tubs.
The roof of the box has nice detail, but due to
moulding limitations, not the sides. I found
it advisable to complete all this work into
one of the fuselage shells, before closing
the front fuselage. The coaming over the
second instrument panel would be later, to
avoid masking problems, as I intended the
canopy to be displayed open. The ejection
seats would also be fitted later. Fujimi’s
seats are not bad, although each one only
amounts to four parts, but at least there is
moulded belt detail, plus the characteristic
ribbing effect on the seat and back cushions.
However, I went for resin replacements,
selecting Quickboost QB 72 556; these
have moulded-on belt detail, and the only
assembly required being the overhead
ejection handles, and they painted up nicely.
MAIN FUSELAGE SECTION
Work on the main fuselage began with
assembly of the two engine units, which are
complete in themselves all the way from
intake to jet pipe, including compressor
faces. Surely another feature rather unique
for 1988. A few ejector pin marks inside the
intake walls needed to be sorted out first,
though. At the same time, I also made up the
main fuselage, from one upper and three
lower sections, whilst trapping the glove
vanes between. The fit is generally excellent,
although the (retracted) glove vanes needed
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
THE BOX IS FULL OF SOME
DELICIOUS PLASTIC, AND
ALL THE SPRUES COME
SEPARATELY SEALED IN
THEIR OWN PLASTIC BAGS
and then the fuselage was closed up. Up to
this point, the fit had been excellent, however,
panel on the spine doesn’t line up though. But
this was corrected by filling and sanding the
misaligned lines and rescribing new ones.
WINGS
Gluing the upper and lower halves of the
wings together was next, followed by fitting
them onto the fuselage. Now we reach the
point where the fit a little off, but can be fixed
easily. On both the leading and trailing edges
there is a step from wing to fuselage. The
underside of the leading edge of the upper
wing had to be sanded off a bit to make it
sit a bit lower. At the trailing edge, a touch
of plastic needed be removed from the top
SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
cold war trucking
the engine block and
the two-cylinder heads
that were separately attached
with their exhaust manifolds along with
the large air filter, which was to be attached
later on in the build. Several smaller parts
such as the oil filters, fan belt and fuel
pump were all now glued into position.
The main engine block was then
painted a blue-grey colour and the
other sub-assemblies painted as
per the instructions. Once
field regiments supporting armoured infantry
brigades for the foreseeable future, 134 were
in service in 2008, reduced to 117 in 2015. The
AS-90 underwent a capability enhancement
program in 2008 and 2009, primarily relating
to upgrades of the AS-90’s electronic system.
The initial expected out-of-service date
for the AS-90 was 2030, but this was later
delayed to 2032, with a replacement planned
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a few seconds with an abrasive. I decided to
delay fitting the engine units to the fuselage
because I was keen to get the main gear
JACK OF ALL
fitted and spray painted, whereas access
TRADES
to the inner sides of the gear would be
impossible with the engines in place. The
main undercarriage units assembled nicely
into place, so I now moved on to airbrushing
the underside of only the main fuselage in
Valom’s 1/48 Antonov An-2
white, including the wheel bays. It went well,
but I came to regret the idea in the end and
wished I had more carefully considered a
more traditional approach, assembling and
FIRST LOOKS
painting the main gear off the model. It would
• Zoukei-Mura 1/48
probably have worked out and would have
eased my later masking problems. It would
McDonnell Douglas
also have eased my assembly problems
when I eventually added the engine units,
F-4EJ Kai Phantom II
because of course the poly cement wasn’t
so happy when it met my coat of white! It
certainly is a good idea to fix the boat tail
before the long engine units are added, in
case you need to neaten up the side edges of
the tail. Maybe it was me, but I was surprised
to have to fill a gap between the fuselage
and tail on the upper side, even using thin
• Dora Wings 1/48
Republic P-43 Lancer
• Zvezda 1/72 C-130H
microstrip. The front fuselage and rear
fuselage sections assemble together nicely,
but there was a small amount of fettling
and filling along parts of the joint line, and
the cockpit decking behind the rear seat.
WINGS
Fujimi suggest fitting the wings after all
control surfaces, and even munitions, have
been attached to the model, but few would
agree with that. I suppose if you wanted to
paint the wings separately you would have
to fit them very much later, but certainly
without munitions and, for me, also without
control surfaces, given that I wanted to
attach the slats and flaps with poly-cement.
ALSO INSIDE!
I therefore considered it advisable to fit the
wings early, but in a plain state. Once ready,
49 AFRICAN TRAINER
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MIG-21UM
DOUBLE HORTEN
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MARINES MUD MOVER
KIT DETAILS HO-229S
QUICKBUILD
BUZZING BEAUTY!
Eduard 1/72 Servus
AV-8A US MARINE
CORPS
Chlapci Zlin Z-37A
Čmelák Limited
Edition
FIGHTING
MANUFACTURER: Kinetic
SCALE: 1/48
KIT TYPE: Injection moulded
plastic
KIT NUMBER: K48072
FINN
Eduard’s 1/48
MiG-21BIS
ProfiPACK
side on the fuselage for a better fit. The
flaps and ailerons are included as separate
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JANUARY 2021
parts and can be set straight or dropped to
choice. Looking at my references, I noticed
most are usually in a just slightly off centre
position, so that’s what I did. The clear parts,
canopy, windscreen and navigation lights
were then masked and glued into place.
PAINTING
A piece of foam was then inserted in the
cockpit and jet intakes to protect them from
the painting stage. As with all my builds,
I use Alclad Black Primer and Microfiller.
The horizontal stabilisers were painted
separately, together with many other smaller
parts like the pylons, fuel tanks and landing
gear. The first colour, Mr Hobby H331, Dark
Sea Grey, was airbrushed freehand in a
sightly random pattern first, followed by a
second, slightly lighter colour to add some
MARINES MUD MOVER PUT TO THE SWORD
Kinetic’s 1/48 AV-8A Harrier Fujimi’s 1/72 F-14A Tomcat
65
Soviet Six Wheel Army Truck
the engine was complete, it
was given a gloss coat. I then
gave the entire engine a black
oil wash to bring out some of
the nicely moulded detail, and
some oily streaks and grime were
applied. I then deviated from the
instructions slightly here as I continued
to assemble the chassis, both rear axles and
the propshaft. To this I added the front axle
and steering, the spare tyre bracket and
the fuel tanks, the mudguards and air brake
cylinders. It was now time to apply some
paint to the chassis, and first off, I applied
a liberal coat of Hataka Jet Black, followed
by some subtle shading with Tamiya NATO
Black just to add some contrast. With
the chassis painted the engine dropped
into place and exhaust glued onto the
manifolds and the rear location points. I then
assembled all seven of the wheel hubs and
the vinyl tyres that would be
slipped into place at the end
of the build.
I then moved on to
the interior of the cab,
and here all three seats
needed to be assembled.
1 5
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the as-90
Maintenance Manual
to enter service in 2029. AS-90 started in
the mid-1980s as a private venture on the
gamble that the tri-national SP70 would
fail. When this subsequently occurred, the
Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a cardinal
point specification on one page for a new
155mm self-propelled gun. Four tenders were
submitted, and the MoD also considered the
US ‘Paladin’, an upgraded M109 howitzer. cl
usiv
ex
In 1963 certain NATO nations, including
2
the UK, agreed a Ballistics Memorandum
es
how
of Understanding for a 155mm 39-calibre
ordnance and a baseline projectile with the
id
to
gu
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MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL

Model Aircraft Manual
The Harrier GR.3
History Colour Profiles Scale Plans Step by Step Build
36 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL
V/STOL Ground Attack Aircraft
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3
I
n the light of the operational experience
gained with the GR.1, a number of changes
were made to the RAF’s Harrier fleet during
the mid 1970s, to both upgrade and update
their capabilities. The addition of a new
version of the Pegasus engine, the Mk.103, gave
the aircraft an extra 1000lb of thrust, and the jets
fitted with this new powerplant were designated
as Harrier GR.Mk.3. With the new Pegasus
successfully installed, the RAF also decided
to take the opportunity to add some other
fresh items to the Harrier’s inventory. The most
noticeable modification was the fitting of a Laser
Rangefinder and Market Target Seeker or LRMTS,
tied into the FE.541 INS/AS (Inertial Navigation
System/Attack System) in an extended so-called
‘Snoopy’ or ‘Dolphin’ style nose, together with
Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) aerials on the fin
and rear fuselage. The LRMTS was a Ferranti type
106, similar in design to that used in the RAF’s
‘chisel nosed’ Jaguar GR.1 but featuring ‘eyelids’
capable of being closed when not in use, rather
than just a glass panel as on the Jaguar.
The LRMTS was initially trialled in a Ferranti
Canberra, and the first aircraft to receive the
new nose was XZ128. Inside the restyled nose
was an active laser receiver, with the primary
function of supplying a laser pulse from which
the range to a ground target could be derived,
either boresighted or in conjunction with the
FE.154 INS. The resulting information was then
projected into the pilot’s Head Up Display (HUD),
with the slant range, closure and attack angles
Looking decidedly dirty, this Harrier GR.3 taxies out during a cold weather exercise in northern Norway
Sea Harriers from No.809 Squadron and Harrier
GR.3’s from No.1(F) Squadron on the deck of the
Atlantic Conveyor
also being fed into the ballistics computer.
When switched to ‘marked target mode’ it could
detect reflected infra-red energy from a ground
or air-based laser designator and would then
lock-on to this energy and present the range
and position in the HUD. The employment of
this piece of equipment was quoted by senior
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
officers as ‘having a drastic effect on target
acquisition and bomb delivery accuracy –
especially in a first-pass laydown scenario’.
Weapon aiming relied on the Ferranti
weapons-aiming computer, which also made
use of information from the LRMTS and data
inputs from the navigation equipment, such
as wind speed and direction. A `ballistics box’
mounted on the cockpit had slots for four
‘slide-in’ plugs, one for the Aden cannons, and
three for other types of ordinance. Each plug
fed ballistic information for each individual type
of weapon, and the pilot therefore needed to
ensure that he had the correct plug in place
for the weapons he was carrying, and the
correct pylons selected. The computer then
automatically released the stores, having
taken into account the distance to the target,
the wind speed and the weapons-trajectory
characteristics. The FE.541 INS/AS included a
moving map display which could be updated
from the aircraft’s Sperry compass as well as
from visual ‘fix’ input by the pilot, with essential
navigational data projected on to his HUD.
The second and perhaps most vital upgrade
in terms of the aircraft’s survivability was the
Marconi ARI.18223 RWR. Two passive aerials were
fitted, one to the near top of the fin covering
the forward aspect and one on the tip of the
tailboom covering the rearward aspect. Both
gave a sweep of 180°, and this passed a visual
warning on to a new cockpit display and an
audible alarm into the pilot’s head set if a hostile
 MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
A good view here of the Harriers bolt-on IFR probe seen on the No.1(F) Squadron bird
‘Matchcote’ Harrier – XV738/B, a No.IV(AC) Squadron aircraft in grey!
radar emission were detected. A new Lucas
12kVA alternator to replace the original twin
4kVA sets was also fitted, and the E95 camera
gained a new ‘teardrop’ shaped aperture in
the side of the nose. The pitot tube, mounted
on the front of the GR.1s nose, was moved to a
point above the new LRMTS housing and was
faired into the fuselage. The Pegasus Mk.103 was
in essence the same engine as that installed in
the USMC AV-8A and it was also specified to be
fitted to the twelve attrition replacement aircraft
which were ordered by the RAF in 1974. The
Mk.103 had a re-bladed fan, which increased the
mass airflow, and was first trialled in 1971 aboard
XV738. The first service aircraft fitted with the
A 1417 Flight Harrier GR.3
A No.1(F) Squadron GR.3 practicing BL755 CBU lay-down techniques prior to
heading out for the Falklands conflict
new engine was XZ128, flew on 9 January 1976.
As well as the new-build aircraft, earlier GR.1s and
GR.1As were retrofitted with the new engine as
they went in for major servicing. A total of sixty-
two GR.1/1As are believed to have been modified
to the GR.3 standard.
The GR.3s of No.IV(AC) Squadron were now
the RAF’s dedicated Harrier Reconnaissance
operators, having forty per cent of their time
committed to reconnaissance and the remaining
sixty per cent to the delivery of the BL.755
Cluster Bomb Unit (CBU). Complementing the
F95 oblique camera, carried by all the Harriers,
No.IV(AC) also carried a centreline mounted
BAe Sensor Pod, containing a fan of five optical
37
MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3
cameras, four being of 70mm and one of 127mm
focal length. Following a recce-mission, and as
soon as the Harrier was on the ground exposed
camera magazines from the recce-pod were
rushed to the Squadron’s RICs (Reconnaissance
Interpretation Centres) where the films were
swiftly processed, with the pilot adding a verbal
and written report on the reconnaissance
trip, before submission of the results to higher
authorities.
The primary weaponry of the Harrier GR.3 was
the 277kg Hunting BL.755 CBU and the 68mm
SNEB rocket, which were housed in nineteen-
round Matra 155 launchers. Alternatively,
standard 1,000lb iron bombs could be carried,
and laser guidance kits were also added to these
weapons during and after the Falklands conflict
of 1982. Also available were Mk. 117 Parachute-
Retarding Tails, developed by Hunting for the
1,000lb bombs, that allowed the aircraft to exit
safely after releasing its weapons from a low
level could also be fitted. Under the fuselage
could be found the standard Aden cannons and
the inboard pylons were usually occupied by
standard drop tanks. Post-Falklands Harriers were
fitted with two Tracor ALE-40 Chaff and Flare
dispensers mounted under the fuselage behind
the airbrake, and some GR.3s retained the wiring
looms for the carriage of Sidewinder AAMs.
38 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL
A Harrier GR.3 in the Falklands, and note the Sidewinder missiles
Keeping the Peace
A crisis in the former colony of British Honduras,
now Belize, in Central America, led to the Harriers’
first ‘out of area’ deployment. As a response to
Guatemala’s threatened invasion, a garrison of
1,000 British troops, was dispatched, supported
by six Harrier GR.1As from No.1(F) Squadron, who
arrived courtesy of refuelling from Victor tankers
and two stopovers. The aircraft flew out from
RAF Wittering on 5 November 1975 under the
codename Operation ‘Nucha’, taking up station at
the Belize International Airport. The detachment
was, however, short lived and in April 1976 the
aircraft were dismantled and returned to the UK
by RAF Belfast, having lost one of their number
XV788 on 1 December 1975 through a bird strike,
its pilot Flt Lt Scott ejecting successfully. During
the latter part of 1975 the detachment Harriers
was all given names including; XV795/05 ‘The
Intruder’ XZ971 ‘Hod Carrier’ and XV787/02 ‘Hot
to Trot’. An interesting note is that the Harriers
arrived in Belize wearing their standard UK design
of green/grey topsides and light grey undersides;
but XV787/02 received a locally applied grey/
green wrap-around scheme. July 1977 saw a
return to tension across the Belize border, and as
a result four Harrier GR.3s were again flown out
under the aegis of the ‘Strike Command Det’, and
were piloted and maintained by personnel drawn
from the three operational squadrons, manned
on a three-month rotational basis, with No.233
OCU also taking a turn in March 1978. The need to
Sea Harriers and GR.3’s being prepared for launch
maintain a more formal presence was accepted,
and in March 1981, 1417 Flight was created to
operate the four aircraft, carrying a white ‘sailfish’
motif in a red circle flanked by red and blue bars
beneath the cockpits. The Harriers were tasked
with air defence, reconnaissance and close air
support, and most had by then received Phase
6 modifications which enabled them to carry
AIM-9G Sidewinder AAMs, along with the more
usual bombs, Aden cannons and SNEB rocket
pods. No.1417 Flight continued its tasking until its
eventual withdrawal in July 1993, when it had the
honour of being the RAF’s last operational GR.3
unit. Three of the four aircraft, ZD667/C, ZD670/F
and XZ971/G were led home by the first, and
coincidentally, the last CO of 1417 Flight, Sqn Ldr
John Finlayson, returning to RAF Wittering on 8
July 1993; the fourth aircraft ZD669 remained in
Belize as a gate guard.
Harriers at War
When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands
in 1982, the limelight for the aerial action shone
brightly on the incomparable Sea Harrier, during
‘Operation Corporate’. However, the RAF Harrier
GR.3’s played an important role in the conflict,
and one that is often forgotten. The decision to
deploy RAF Harriers to the Falklands was taken in
order to bolster the small number of Sea Harriers,
since attrition replacement was thought to be
a high priority early in the campaign and there
were more GR.3s available than the very small
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
1417 Flight Harriers in the revetments in Belize
number of ‘irreplaceable’ FRS.1s, and credence
was given to adapting the GR.3 to air-defence
role, a task which had always been part of US
Marine Corps Harrier doctrine. Following trials,
the air-defence scenario was certainly feasible
with the GR.3, and the fitting of outboard wing
pylons to carry Sidewinder launch rails was
quickly undertaken. The AIM-9G version of the
AAM, Tracor AN/ALE-40 chaff/flare dispensers
were also made available, some twenty being
at hand by mid-May. The aircraft were also
fitted with a transponder to enhance their
appearance on the carriers’ radar, which resulted
in a pronounced bulge beneath the aircraft’s
LRMTS. Operations were also greatly assisted
by Ferranti’s invention and swift delivery of
their FINRAE (Ferranti Inertial Rapid Alignment
Equipment) system, which allowed for the fast
setting up of the aircraft’s INS platform on a
rolling and pitching deck. Extra drain holes were
placed to aid the clearing of saltwater from the
airframe and tie down lugs were added to the
outrigger and main wheels. In all fourteen late
production models were eventually prepared for
deployment; the aircraft all retained their grey/
green wrap-around camouflage schemes, with
the squadron insignia overpainted, although the
yellow outrigger numbers remained. Roundels
and fin flashes were retained on some aircraft
and overpainted on others. Squadron badges
and markings were also overpainted as were
pilots’ names an exception being XZ997/31 which
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
still carried the name of Flt Lt M Caughey under
its starboard windscreen on Hermes. The RAF
roundels remained in their six locations as did the
fin flashes. Serial numbers in black were retained
in their usual positions on the rear fuselage and
under the wings and all stencil and warning
markings remained.
No.1(F) Squadron received the call that they
were to deploy aircraft to the Falklands on 8
April, and Wing Cdr Peter Squire set about
finding the best airframes fitted with the most
powerful engines. Eventually six were found
with No.1(F) Squadron with six from Nos.3 and
IV(AC) Squadrons and 233 OCU. Crash courses
in ski-jump techniques were taken at RNAS
Yeovilton, three per pilot were scheduled but,
in the event, just one proved sufficient, and
clearance trials were undertaken with Navy 2in
rocket pods and 1,0001b Paveway Laser Guided
Bombs. Subsequently nine Harrier GR.3s left
RAF St Mawgan on 3, 4 and 5 May (although one
turned back with mechanical trouble) and with
Victor tanker support flew the 4,260 miles to
Ascension Island. Two of their number remained
on the Island to provide air defence; the other six
boarded the Atlantic Conveyor on 6 May, shielded
from the elements by two rows of containers at
the edges of the deck and wrapped in temporary
A GR.3 at Ascension Island en-route to the Falklands,
and note the transponder under the nose enhance
their appearance on the carriers’ radar
A very crowded deck scene aboard HMS Hermes
Harrier GR.3’s dropped Paveway LGBs toward the
end of the conflict
‘Driclad’ plastic covers, joining Sea Harriers
already embarked for the trip. Four other GR.3s
made the flight to Ascension, with two making
the final 3,529-mile hop direct to HMS Hermes
arriving on 1 June. A second pair made the trip
out to Hermes on the 8th, arriving in the middle
of an air raid. The six GR.3s aboard the Atlantic
Conveyor transferred over to Hermes on 18 May.
As the Sea Harrier losses were much lower
than had been expected, the GR.3s did not have
to use their new-found ‘interceptor’ abilities and
discarded their Sidewinder launch rails in favour
of their customary ‘mud-moving equipment’,
thus releasing the Sea Harriers for their practiced
air defence role. The first Harrier GR.3 attack
took place in the afternoon of 20 May, when a
three-ship formation led by Wing Cdr Squire
dropped BL.755 CBUs on an Argentine fuel dump
just outside Fox Bay. Next day a group of GR.3s
attacked and destroyed a number of aircraft on
the ground near Mount Kent. On that day there
was also the first GR.3 casualty, when Flt Lt Jeff
Glover, flying XZ972 in a reconnaissance run, was
hit by a Blowpipe SAM near Port Howard. Glover
39
MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3
ejected and was taken prisoner. On 21 May Flt Lt
John Rochefort returned to Hermes from a sortie
in XZ997, still fully armed, and landed his aircraft
with the port outrigger over the edge of the deck,
making it lurch over and coming to rest on one
of its weapons. No serious damage occurred, and
the aircraft was soon back in the air.
Further GR.3 losses occurred when on the
27th Sqn Ldr Bob Iveson, flying XZ988, was hit
by Skyguard-directed AAA fire while attacking
Goose Green. He ejected, managed to evade
capture, and was picked up two days later by a
Royal Marines helicopter. Flt Lt Peter Harris and
Flt Lt Tony Harper eventually silenced the Goose
Green guns with BL.755 CBUs. He was followed in
by Flt Lt Jerry Pook who launched sixty two-inch
RPs (rocket projectiles) into the ‘nest’. On the 30th
Flt Lt Pook, now flying XZ963, took hits from small
arms while attacking a gun position at Mount
Harriet. He tried to nurse his stricken aircraft back
to the carrier but was forced to eject, being picked
up by a Sea King helicopter. Once a beachhead
had been established at San Carlos, and ‘HMS
Sheathbill’ had been instituted, and the Harriers
became regular customers for fuel and weapons.
Two much needed replacement Harriers arrived
during the first days of June, followed by two
more on the 8th. The latter, XW919 and XZ992
had ‘Blue Eric’ ECM jammers and Tracor AN/
ALE-40 chaff and flare dispensers fitted. The
‘Blue Eric’ jammer was modified Skyshadow
ECM equipment fitted into one of the two Aden
cannon pods. These new fits, however, did not
prevent XW919 and its pilot Flt Murdo McLeod
from sustaining small arms hits on 12 June,
causing a fire on recovery, and effectively ending
the career of one the replacement aircraft. During
the final days of the conflict the GR.3s flew attack
missions in support of the advancing troops. The
final GR.3 to be ‘lost’ was XZ989 flown by Peter
Squire, which sufferer power loss on returning to
the matted landing site; his aircraft hit the ground
hard, irretrievably damaging it. The final attacks
of the war were made using Paveway LGBs, which
had been unsuccessfully flown in the preceding
days owing to a lack of suitable designation from
the ground. This time, however, the targets were
well illuminated by ground-based FACs. Wing
Cmdr Squire scored a direct hit on a company on
Mount Tumbledown with one of his Paveway’s
on 13 June, and later Jerry Pook was able to place
an LGB directly into a gun emplacement. The final
attack on the I4th was to be flown by Sqn Ldr
Peter Harris against the Argentine HQ on Sapper
Hill but this was called off within moments of
the planned delivery, when white flags suddenly
appeared from the Argentine position. A special
note should also be made of four aircraft that
flew directly from Ascension to Hermes. For these
marathon eight-hour flights they were fitted
with an In Flight Refuelling probe and carried 330
gallon ferry tanks on their inner pylons with 100
gallon tanks on their outboard pylons; the 330
gallon tanks being jettisoned prior to the landing
on Hermes.
40 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 41

MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3

XV741, Harrier Gr.1, Daily Mail Trasnatlantic Air Race, 1969

XV749, Harrier Gr.1, 1 Squadron, RAF Wittering, 1970

XV762, Harrier GR1, 233 OCU, RAF Wittering, 1975

XV786, Harrier GR1, 4 Squadron, RAF Gutersloh, 1975

42 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 43

MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3

P-47 Thunderbolt 1:72 Scale

Proving that the Harrier

could operate from any
austere site, or a road!
44 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

XV809, Harrier GR3, 3 Squadron, Gutersloh AB, Germany, 1984

XW769, Harrier GR3, 1 Squadron, Norway, Winter, 1986

XZ129, Harrier GR3,( EX RAF) Engineering Training School, RNAS Yeovilton, 1992

ZD667, Harrier GR3, 4 Squadron

45

MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3

JANUARY 2021
MODEL AIRCRAFT
46 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL
Welsh Wildcat
Jezz Coleman builds the new Kinetic Harrier GR.3 in the markings of No.233 OCU
T
his aircraft needs no introduction as
it gained fame as the first operational
jet capable of vertical take-off and
landing, and of course for its part in
the 1982 Falklands War. So, without
further ado, lets move onto the kit. For many
years’ modellers have been eagerly awaiting
a manufacturer to release a new tool, high
quality early Harrier kit in 1:48. Now, enter
Kinetic with their new GR.1/GR.3 Gold offering,
and on first inspection of the contents of the
crammed box, there are several sprues that
share a similarity to their earlier release of the
Sea Harrier and T-Bird trainer, but these are
mainly the generic parts. What you do have are
several new sprues containing the fuselage,
intake parts and wings along, with
weapons and interior parts
that will enable you to build
either the short-nosed GR.1
or the later GR.3 with its
longer LRMTS nose, and tail
mounted RWR and also the
undernose fairing for the
FINRAE as used by aircraft
in the Falklands War.
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
Harrier GR.1/GR.3
which is enhanced with a set of etched seatbelts.
Manufacturer: Kinetic The cockpit itself also has some reasonably well
Scale: 1:48 moulded control and instrument panels and
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded side consoles. This was all painted light grey,
Kit Number: 48060 and the details were then picked out with a fine
brush. I must say I was a touch disappointed that
there were no decals included to represent the
Anyone that has built one of the earlier Kinetic instruments, but I am sure an aftermarket set
Harriers will be aware that there are some very will be available soon, if not by the time we go
small building issues, but nothing that some
dry fitting and a little modelling know how
cannot fix. The decal options are also very nice,
and I chose to show my build in the markings
of No.233 OCU with their ‘Welsh Wildcat’
emblem on the nose.
So, to begin I assembled the ejector seat,
which comes as several nicely moulded
and detailed parts. With some
careful detail painting you soon get
a good representation of the seat,
FOR MANY YEARS’ MODELLERS HAVE BEEN EAGERLY
AWAITING A MANUFACTURER TO RELEASE A NEW
TOOL, HIGH QUALITY EARLY HARRIER KIT IN 1:48
The ejector seat comes
as several well moulded
parts with etched
seatbelts
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
to print! So, for this build I had a quick rummage
through by ‘decal bank’ and found a few decals
that fitted the bill. Granted they might not be
totally accurate, but they worked for this project.
The next stages consisted of assembling
the smaller sub-assemblies, such as the wheel
bays, the turbine plate and such, that would be
enclosed within the fuselage when assembled.
There was nothing too complicated here and
everything was painted as per the instructions
colour call outs and my reference images. Then
with the cockpit and sub-assemblies built and
painted it was time to glue everything into
place and button up the fuselage. Next to fix
into place were the intake cowlings with their
blow-in doors, and these fitted extremely well,
which was a pleasant surprise.
Following this the upper port and starboard
wing undersides were glued onto the upper
wing section. Some care was needed when
attaching the wing assembly to the fuselage,
I found a little sanding and dry fitting was
needed where the wing slots into place to
achieve a better fit. The kit allows you to choose
to display the model with the wing flaps and
airbrake lowered, which I did. Also, when
fitting the tail, you also need to ensure
you select the correct part number
for your chosen variant, either a
GR.1 or GR.3, so with or without
the RWR fairing and with or
without the LRMTS nose.
The stabilisers were then
kept separate for ease of
painting and would be
added at the end of
the build.
47
MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3
Ready to button up
the fuselage
I then built up the undercarriage and painted
them per my references, and again these would
be added later.
It was now time to assemble the payload
and for the aircraft. For my model I decided on
a pair 100-gallon fuel tanks on the inner
pylons and a pair of Matra 155 rocket
pods on the outer pylons. Here I ran
across a minor issue with the rocket
pods as the instruction say to remove
the protruding projectile heads to
replicate the frangible covers. However,
I opted to have another rummage
through my ‘spares-box’ and as luck
would have it, I found a couple of pod
heads that didn’t have the protruding
rockets, these were glued onto the kit
parts then some putty was applied over
the holes to create the frangible covers.
48 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

The wheels are

well moulded….

…and detailed

I did a little work

on the rocket pods

After a black base…..

With the main parts now built I was ready
for painting, and firstly I applied a black base
as a primer coat, followed by Hataka Extra
Dark Sea Grey. I then took a different approach
than normal regards painting by using some
airbrush spatter masks from 77propellor.com.
With a little practice you can
achieve a varied texture by
applying different the colours
over the surface in several thin
passes with your airbrush. Then
the grey areas were masked off
using Blu-Tac sausages then Hataka
Dark Green was airbrushed on, again
using the spatter masks as before.
The finer details were then picked out
and once dry I applied a coat of Hataka
Gloss. I then added the decals, which
settled well with some softener and
fixer, and once dry I applied a pin-wash
and a panel line wash Modellers World Oil
Washes. The model was then left overnight
to thoroughly dry. I was then able to move
onto the final stage of attaching various pre-
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 49

MODEL AIRCRAFT – HARRIER GR.3

…I applied Hataka Extra
Dar Sea Grey and then used a
spatter template to vary the
paint effect…..
….this was
followed by some
masking……

….then Hataka
Dark Green
50 MODEL AIRCRAFT MANUAL WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

The decals worked well

with softener and fixer

assembled and pre-painted parts, which were

all glued into their respective places. Just a note
here. The Harrier has an unusual landing gear
arrangement, so make sure that you have all the
wheels and outriggers touching the ground,
and you may need to do a little tweaking to get
them all to sit flush. Also, there are a few aerials
and other smaller parts to add to the aircraft,
so as always – check your references! Finally,
the ordnance and tanks were fitted and a final
coat of Hataka Matt was applied. The canopy
parts were then glued into place with PVA, and
I added a few stains and streaks as a finishing
touch.
All in all, this kit wasn’t without some minor
issues, but these were easily overcome with a
little thought. Overall, this is a superb kit with
lots of potential to build straight-from-the-box
but also plenty of scope for those of you that
enjoy super detailing! Thanks to Lucky Model
for the review sample. MA
 PRE
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BUILDING THE

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ig, powerful, and truly a juggernaut of an aircraft, resulting in its

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Lockheed P-38 Lightning, it was one of the three principal fighter types
which the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) successfully operated in the
later stages of World War Two. The initial production version was the
P-47B, and examples of this type started to reach the USAAF’s 56th
Fighter Group in June 1942. The first really combat-ready model was the
refined and slightly longer P-47C, which entered service later in 1942.
Like all front-line P-47 versions it packed a formidable punch of four
0.5in M2 Browning machine guns in each wing, although early models
did not carry the wing pylons that became so important later in the
Thunderbolt’s combat career. The first P-47C examples to reach Britain
for the US Eighth Army Air Force did so in December 1942, followed by
what became the main combat model of the Thunderbolt, the P-47D,
in April 1943. Weighing in at some 15,000lb (6,804kg) fully loaded and
powered by the R-2800-59 Double Wasp of 2,000hp, the P-47D was a
big, powerful beast. Water injection introduced for some versions of
the R-2800 would see even greater power on demand when needed in
aerial combat. All of these early Thunderbolts had the ‘razorback’ high
line rear fuselage pioneered with the P-35 and P-43, with a rearwards-
sliding heavily framed cockpit canopy. Although the USAAF at first saw
the Thunderbolt as a high altitude interceptor, its main initial role very
soon became that of daylight bomber escort with the England- based
Eighth Air Force, which was in great need of escort fighters for its B-17
Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators that were increasingly facing stiff
Luftwaffe fighter opposition. he Thunderbolt helped to turn the tide for BUILDING THE

the US daylight bombing offensive during 1943 and early 1944, with a
number of P-47 pilots gaining impressive scores in air-to-air combat
against Luftwaffe fighters. Eventually the appearance of the
Merlin-engined P-51B Mustang and later versions of the superb
Mustang long-range fighter resulted in the Eighth Air Force
almost completely re-equipping its fighter groups with the
P-51, but the Eighth’s 56th Fighter Group continued to fly
the Thunderbolt right up to the end of the war in Europe in
May 1945. The Eighth Air Force also pioneered the P-47 for
air-to-ground operations as a part of its policy of taking the
fight to the Luftwaffe, and additional to this the Thunderbolt
eventually equipped several fighter groups specifically for
fighter-bomber operations within the tactical England-based US
Ninth Air Force. The P-47 proved to be a formidable fighter-bomber due
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a 500lb (227kg) bomb (one under each wing), and the Ninth
Air Force in particular used this capability to devastating effect
against German tactical targets before and after D-Day. ‘Razorback’
Thunderbolts additionally equipped USAAF units in Italy, the Pacific
(including exceptional use by the Fifth Air Force), and the China-
Burma-India theatre (CBI). Continuing development of the P-47 design
led to the adoption later in P-47D manufacture of a cut- down rear
fuselage spine and all-round vision ‘bubbletop’ canopy. This resulted in
a further series of later Thunderbolt versions with even greater range
and capabilities, but many ‘razorback’ P-47s nevertheless continued
in service right to the war’s end – some pilots in fact preferring the
‘razorback’ to the later models particularly for their better directional
stability. Other important users of the Thunderbolt in World War Two
included the Soviet Union, the RAF
and the Free French. This seventh
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52 MIG-21MF WEEKEND EDITION WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

African Snorre Sandviken builds

1:48 Eduard MiG-21MF of the
Somalian Air Force

WARRIOR

THE BIG BUILD

T
he MiG-21MF is a third-generation
version of the ubiquitous MiG design.
It is in reality, a MiG-21M with a new
powerplant with afterburner and a
newer radar system. Its internal fuel
capacity was limited, so it carried underwing
drop tanks to increase its range. Armament
comprised an internal cannon and various
loads of missiles, bombs or rocket pods fitted
The cockpit parts painted up
to its four wing pylons. The MiG-21 MF was
built from 1970 to 1974, mainly for export. The
country of Somalia was created in 1960 from
former British and Italian colonies, and the
new Republic of Somalia formed the Somalia
Aeronautical Corps (SAC) in the same year. With
the primary task of supporting the army, its
aircraft were initially Western, but from 1963
onwards, in exchange for leasing bases at three
ports, the USSR supplied much of the military MiG-21MF Weekend Edition
equipment. In 1974 the SAC took Manufacturer: Eduard
delivery of the first ten Scale: 1:48
MiG-21MF fighters and Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
four MiG-21UM trainers. Kit Number: 84126
lt. is not certain how Eduard Interior #FE723
many ultimately arrived, Berna Decals #BD 48-98
but most sources suggest
a maximum of forty-five
fighters and ten trainers. war ended disastrously for Somalia, and in a
Together with MiG-15s, series of civil wars that followed the MiG-21s,
MiG-17s and Shenyang F6s, together with the rest of the SAC aircraft, were
they went into action in 1977 destroyed or abandoned. Eight MiG-21 wrecks
when the Ogaden region were still on Mogadishu Airports dump nearly
of Ethiopia was invaded twenty years later
by Somalian troops. The I had this kit sitting in my collection for a
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
couple of years and didn’t really have any big
plans for it apart from building it someday, but
when I got a set of Berna decals with various
African MiG-21 roundels and serials, all that
changed. I started researching MiG-21s from
every country that had decals represented
on the sheet. The Somali ones caught my
eye instantly. There was something about
the livery and the almost tragic history of the
Somali Air force that made me want to build
it as a Somalian example. The Eduard MiG-21
kits come with high praise from around the
modelling community. I’m normally sceptical
to praise like that, as it for me rarely is accurate,
but in this case, it is. The fit is excellent, and the
engineering and parts breakdown makes this a
53
AFRICAN WARRIOR
I used an Eduard
interior set
AFTER SCOURING THE INTERNET FOR PICTURES OF SOMALI
MIG-21S, I FOUND ONE CARRYING MORE ORDNANCE THAN
JUST A DROP TANK
The fuselage halves with side panels detailed
Adding some weight in the nose
pretty good kit.
The first step in the build manual
suggests assembling the front
gear bay. Now, I usually build
according to the manual, but
in an attempt to save time, I
cut all the parts needed for the
gear bays, the engine section and the cockpit having to switch colours all the time. All the
free from the sprues, grouped them so they pieces, apart from the engine parts were then
wouldn’t get mixed in with each other and primed using Alclad Grey Primer and Microfiller
placed them on a pice of cardboard. I recently (ALC 302), lightly thinned with Hataka Thinner
figured out that doing it this way saves a lot of (HTK-XP03). The engine parts were then primed
time in the early stages of the build when every using Alclad Black primer and Microfiller (ALC
little part must be painted before assembly. 309) thinned with the same thinner, and the
This way you can paint all the parts that are grey parts of the engine were then given a
the same colour at the same time, instead of coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss (ALC 600), as they
54 MIG-21MF WEEKEND EDITION
Painting the
wheel wells….
were later going to be coated in metal colours.
Normally you’d need to polish the parts and
coat them in glossy primer, but that dries
slowly, so I’ve experimented with doing it this
way. By using the Primer and Microfiller, the
surface doesn’t need to be all polished, as the
Microfiller fixes smaller issues, and with the
added thinner it dries smooth. Adding the layer
of Aqua Gloss then adds shine and instead of
several hours drying-time where dust can settle
into the primer, you cut it to fifteen to twenty-
minutes doing it this way. You can even speed
up the drying time of the Aqua Gloss using a
hairdryer. I decided to handle the instrument
panels first, so after coating each one of the
cockpit parts, other than the seat with Mr
Paint Russia Turquoise Cockpit colour (MRP-1) I
compared the etched parts to the painted parts
and found out they didn’t match. So, took a 5/0
brush and started carefully painting the etched
parts while they were still on the fret. After
having dried, the parts were then cut free from
the fret and added to the instrument panels
and secured them using Ammo by MIG Ultra
Glue.
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…and adding a panel line wash
Next up I decided on the engine. I decided
to paint it up even though It would be barely
visible inside the fuselage. The inner parts of
were painted Pale Burnt Metal (ALC 104), and
the grid covering the rear part of the turbine
blades was painted Hataka Willow Green
(HTK-C221). The engine was then assembled,
and the outside was painted the same Pale
Burnt Metal shade, with some added heat
The fuselage, with the
engine area suitably painted
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
staining using Alclad Hot Metal Blue (ALC 413).
The afterburner ring was then painted with
Alclad Stainless Steel (ALC 115). Then it was the
gear bays’ turn. They received a coat of Alclad
USAF World War II Interior Green (ALCE309), as
this seemed to match the colour of the insides
if the MiG-21s fuselage. Many MiG-21s had their
gear bays painted grey, but I chose to keep it
in its natural green colour. The parts for the
pipes and canisters that would go in the gear
bays were painted using RLM04 Insignia yellow
(ALCE 649), Matt Black (ALCE 102) and Skyline
Blue (ALCE 615). These were then were given a
coat of Aqua Gloss before being assembled, to
ensure that the enamel wash that was going to
be applied later did not find any unprotected
enamel paint to attack. After assembly I went
over the moulded lines in the gear bays with
a number 2 pencil, just rubbing this along the
lines, like sort of dry brushing, before giving
the parts another coat of Aqua Gloss. After that
had dried for a while, I added an Ammo by MIG
Green-Brown Wash to emphasise the details
and any excess was removed using a cotton
bud. The gear bays were then given a coat of
Matt before moving onto the next step.
55
AFRICAN WARRIOR
Adding the coaming to the cockpit
The cockpit floor and the bottom of the front
gear bay comes together as one piece, so it was
a natural choice to move onto the cockpit at this
point. Having already finished the instrument
panels, the rest of the cockpit area was smooth
sailing. All the parts had already been painted,
so they were given a gloss coat and then an
Ammo by MIG Blue Dirt Panel Line Wash before
being assembled. I then attached the rudder
pedals, and the main instrument panel. The
fuselage halves had already been painted in
Interior Green and Interior Turquoise and were
now ready for final I the installation of the
cockpit and other parts. As with most tricycle
undercarriage aircraft, some nose weight was The finished ejector seat
needed, and my preferred method is to add
fishing weights secured with superglue. The
rear of the fuselage, where the engine was and then the tail section was glued together,
going to fit was given a coat of Burnt Iron, just and the panel was then masked off to protect
in case it would be visible. The cockpit parts, the green from overspray later. The dorsal fin
the nose cone, the gear bays, the internal and the rims for the wheels also given the same
firewalls and the engine were all then fixed colour treatment to ensure they were the same
into their respective places and the fuselage shade. The insides of the gear bays in the wings
halves were glued together. One of the panels were also sprayed, but the same green shade
on the tail section was given a coat of Hataka as the rest of the wheel bays. In the wheel bays
Willow Green mixed with a few drops of Black there are a few pressure bottles, and they were
56 MIG-21MF WEEKEND EDITION WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

I began the painting

stage with a coat of black
primer….

painted Skyline Blue and …and then I added

assembled, before the gear bays some ‘marbling’
were gloss coated and given a wash
using the same Green Brown wash.
Next up were the weapons and pylons. After
scouring the internet for pictures of Somali
MiGs, I found one carrying more ordnance
than just a drop tank. Luckily, I had the rocket
pods needed in my ‘spares-box’, with just some
minor modifications needed to fit. They were
assembled and then painted and weathered
accordingly. I decided to paint the rear of
the aircraft before adding the tail section, as
masking could be tricky if assembled first.
The engine section was then primed using a
black primer, then gloss coated before and with the added etch it was more like
then sprayed with Alclad Aluminium (ALC 101), twenty-five! But amazingly the parts fit
Airframe Aluminium (ALC 119), Steel (ALC 112), perfectly with no hassle at all. The seat was not
Burnt Carbon (ALC 419) and Hot Metal Blue (ALC installed at this point, as it would easily slide in
413). The lower part of the wings were then when everything else was finished. The HUD
added to the fuselage, and before I added the and the top of the instrument panel housing The undersides were
top part of the wing I realised the lights under was painted up and installed before the front painted with Hataka
Faded Blue Grey
the wings had to be added from the inside, part of the canopy was glued into place. The
before closing the wings. So, they received a canopies had been previously masked off
coat Silver, and then I added some Ammo by inside and out and painted using the same
MiG Liquid Mask before they were glued into shade as the rest of the cockpit. The rear part The exterior paintwork began by masking
place. The top half of the wings were fixed in of the canopy was then tacked on temporarily off the nosecone, the panel at the top of the
place, and here the fit was perfect. The flaps using a mix of tape on the edges and white tail and the engine section, before black primer
and ailerons were then glued into place with glue to hold it in place. was sprayed all over to produce the infamous
the flaps slightly drooped. The tail section was black basing. Next, I used thinned white
also glued in place at this point. paint sprayed at low pressure to produce thin
The seat looked like a massive job as it was
made up of no less than fourteen parts, but
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
The first camouflage colour was
an 80:20 mix of Alclad Mil-Spec
RAF Desert Sand and Israeli
Camouflage Sand
I then freehand spayed
on Alclad British Interior
Grey-Green
‘doodles’ in an uneven pattern on the panels all
over the plane, leaving the panel lines darker
than the rest of the panels. The lower half of the
plane was then given several coats of highly
thinned Hataka Faded Blue Grey (HTK-C285)
to barely cover the black base. When that was
dry, I applied masking to the lower part of the
aircraft to obtain a straight line separating
the bottom from the top. I then started laying
down the first colour freehand, roughly
matching the pattern shown in my
references. The colour used
57
AFRICAN WARRIOR
was an 80:20 mix of Alclad Mil-Spec RAF Desert
Sand (ALCE 024) and Israeli Camouflage Sand
(ALCE 603), thinned with Hataka Thinner. When
satisfied with the first colour, I moved on to the
next colour, again spraying this freehand at very
low pressure using British Interior Grey-Green
(ALCE 012), this time thinned 50:50 with Hataka
Thinner. Doing it that way I could move in very
close at low pressure and avoid any overspray.
Not having to mask camouflage pattern also
saved a lot of time. The horizontals stabilisers
also received the same treatment. I then
loaded the airbrush with white paint tinned
approximately 20:80 and used this to fade the
panels here and there. When happy with the
result, I removed the masking from the nose
cone, the tail and the engine section and gave
the model a couple of coats of Aqua Gloss in
preparation for the decals and weathering.
Luckily the African MiGs did not wear too
many stencils, so this took no time at all. After
they had settled a new coat of Aqua Gloss
was added and the model was set aside for
the varnish to cure properly. Weathering was
kept light, and I chose to use Ammo by MIG
Shadow for Desert Brown all over, apart from
the engine, and this made the panel lines look
dusty instead of very dark. The wash was laid on
using a brush and left to dry properly before the
excess was wiped off using a paper towel. The
engine was washed using Ammo by MIG Blue
Black Panel Wash, which really brought out the
details on the metal parts. The entire model was
was then coated using Hataka Satin (HTK-XP08)
58 MIG-21MF WEEKEND EDITION WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

After a gloss coat I

added the few decals
there were

A panel line wash

picked out the details

before the pylons with weapons, drop tanks

and the landing gear was glued into place. The
last pieces to be fixed on were the pitot tube.
Strangely enough, Eduard do not provide the
pitot tube with fins, so they had to be scratch
built from styrene. The canopy masking was
then removed, and the seat was installed, and
the canopy glued back in place. So, this was
a very good kit that doesn’t need much to
become a great kit, and a very enjoyable build
of a not often seen subject. MA

The ejector seat

has no fewer than
twenty-five parts!

The tail showing

the heat stained
portion
60 REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Mario Serelle builds the 1:72

Tamiya P-47D in the short-lived
markings of Brazilian pilot 1st Lt.
Miranda Correa

‘Arlette’ Republic P-47D Thunderbolt

Manufacturer: Tamiya

W
hen the Brazilian Air Force
P-47D Thunderbolts arrived
in Italy in October 1944, the
squadron patch ‘Senta a Pua’
was almost immediately
painted on every aircraft cowling. However, 1st
Lt. Miranda Correa, then the Intelligence Officer
of the Brazilian squadron, decided to name one
of the P-47s after his wife, ‘Arlette’, and added
a small pin-up below the cockpit. The idea was
not well received by the squadron commander
and soon the nose art was removed. This
aircraft later received the code D6 on the
engine cowling and finished the War being
shot down by German AA on 22 April 1944. The
pilot 2nd Lt. Eduardo Coelho bailed out safely.
So, this aircraft was my choice and for this build
I am using the 1:72 Tamiya kit to portray the
short-lived ‘Arlette’.
After preparing all interior parts I sprayed on
a coat of Ammo by MIG One Shot Grey Primer
and tried to reproduce the peculiar Bronze
Green colour with a mix of RLM70 Black Green,
Blue and Grey Shadow. This colour was applied
to all cockpit parts and then all small details
were carefully brush painted using various
acrylics. A Black Wash and some dry brushing
using Oilbrushers then gave the correct volume
to the parts, making all the nice details stand
out. Some subtle weathering was then added
using a Prismacolor Silver pencil to represent
some scratches and paint chipping. Pigments
were then used to create dirt on the floor. Before
moving to assembling the main components,
the wheel wells were also painted and
weathered. Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green was my
choice to represent the Yellow Zinc Chromate
and Ammo by MIG Interior Wash was used to
accent the details and add some dirt as well.
Tamiya’s engineering quality was evident
during the assembly of major components,
as all parts fitted perfectly and were easily
Scale: 1:72
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: 60770
secured in place using Extra Thin cement. A few
small seams on the back of the fuselage were
quickly filled using Black Slow Dry CA glue. The
Black colour is quite useful for this process as
it makes easier to see where is still needed to
sand. A small seam below the windscreen was
also treated with Ammo by MIG Acrylic Putty.
The advantage of using acrylic putty is that all
excess can be easily removed with a cotton
swab moistened in water, with no need for
sanding, especially in areas that can be quite
dangerous, such as when dealing with clear
parts. Tamiya also supplies a great R-2800. First
the parts were coated with a Black Primer and
then the cylinders were painted with Alclad
Dark Aluminium and the crankcase with Neutral
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 61

‘ARLETTE’
ALSO USED
FCM Decals #72-20 Jambock Squadron
Eduard #73004 USAF & USN WWII Seatbelts
Fuel Models #72003 P-47D/M Wheels
Diamond Tread
Fuel Models #72006 P-47 100gal Drop Tank

An Interior Wash from Ammo by MIG was used to

The cockpit assembles add some dirt effects to the wheel wells
easily and looks great
with all the small details

As expected from
a Tamiya kit,
the fit of main
components
is close to
perfection

THE DECALS CAME FROM BRAZILIAN MANUFACTURER FCM

DECALS AND WERE PRINTED BY MICROSCALE

Grey. A Black Wash was used to accent all nice

details in the engine, and it was completed by
adding some spark plug cables made from thin
cooper wire.
Soon I was ready for painting, and my
favourite technique for a weathered surface
is the Black Basing method. I began with a
Black primer coat and then ‘marbling’
coats were created using White on
the underside and Ammo by MIG
Olive Drab highlights on the
upper surfaces. These paints
were airbrushed through a
piece of sponge, creating a
very irregular pattern. The
Neutral Grey and Olive
Drab basic colours were
supplied by Tom Colors
and were airbrushed in
62 REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT
The engine parts
received a Black primer
prior to painting
very thin layers. This way I had better control
over the paint coverage, allowing the ‘marbling’
coat to be subtly visible underneath. Extra
fading effects were added, mainly on the
wings, again using Ammo by MIG Olive Drab
Highlights and a sponge as a template. Pure
White was then used on specific access panels
on the undersides and then thinned coats of
the base colours were sprayed on to blend all
effects together. The metallic turbo-charger
exhaust on the bottom of the rear fuselage
first received a coat of Pale Burnt Metal, which
was followed by a liquid mask application
with a sponge for some irregular coverage.
Gun Metal acrylic was then airbrushed on and
the masks removed showing the Burnt Metal
underneath. Finally, a second coat of Gun Metal
toned down the contrast between the metallic
shades, giving and interesting worn look to
the part. After painting the final details such as
the engine exhausts and the yellow and green
rudder, the model received a couple of Gloss
coats to seal the paintwork in and prepare the
model for the decals.
Tamiya engine is a
really nice assembly,
even in 1/72
The decals came from Brazilian
manufacturer FCM Decals and
were printed by Microscale and
presented no problem, as they reacted very
well to an application of Ammo by MIG Decal
Set and Fix solutions. A second coat of Gloss
then sealed the decals and the surface ready
for the weathering to come. To give some
more volume to the control surfaces I masked
the flaps, ailerons, rudder and elevators and
carefully airbrushed Dark Green and Ash Black
Shader paints on the leading edge of these
parts. These translucent colours created a
subtle shadow on these areas, thereby adding
more interest. Weathering started with some
paint chipping. Working on the propeller, first
I used some Grey Shadow over the yellow tips
and then Steel was applied on the leading
edges. This effect was done using a small
sponge. The same technique was then utilised
on the wing roots and leading edges but using
Ammo by MIG Yellow Zinc Chromate and Steel.
In order to make the recessed details stand
out I used various washes. On the underside I
used Ammo by MIG Blue Grey on the details
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A small gap around the windscreen was easily
filled using acrylic Arming Putty
and Deep Grey on the control surfaces for a
stronger contrast, and to make these parts
more visible at some distance. Following the
same concept, I used Dark Brown and Deep
Brown on the upper surfaces. A Black wash was
then used on the various small air intakes and
grilles for a better depth effect. Now with all
detail washes applied I coated the model with
a layer of Satin in preparation for the oils and
streaking products.
To create a heavier weathered look on the
wing roots, I made up a mix using Field Green,
White and Ochre Oilbrushers. This shade was
then applied with a small brush on the areas I
wanted to ‘fade’, and then an old round brush
moistened with enamel thinner was used to
dab the oil paint and give it a more irregular
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Using a sponge as ‘template’ I
created a ‘marbling’ coat using
White on the undersides
The undersides received
various thin coats of Tom
Colors Neutral Grey
look. Finally, a larger, soft clean brush was used
to blend and tone down the effects. The same
technique was used around the fuselage on
specific access panels, and on the underside
using Neutral Grey and White Oilbrushers.
Next came the streaks and leaks, which
were mostly concentrated on the underside.
The turbo-charger exhaust first
received a coat of Pale Burnt Metal,
which was followed by some liquid
mask applied with a sponge
63
‘ARLETTE’
On the upper surfaces
I choose a lighter Olive
Drab shade from to create
‘marbling’ base coat
Tom Colors Olive Drab was
sprayed on in thin coats
on the upper surfaces to
complete the camouflage
Starship Filth was used to create dirt streaks on
various access panels and then some darker
Streaking Grime for Panzer Grey represented
a first layer of leaks on the centre line of the
aircraft. These were complemented by Black
Oilbrusher, carefully applied ‘inside’ the first
streaks on the places I wanted a stronger and
more pronounced effect. The propellers also
received some subtle horizontal streaks using
Rainmarks Effects.
Brazilian Jugs operated from muddy non-
prepared runways from their arrival in Italy,
and to represent this I used Ammo by MIG For a more faded effect on the wings, a light Olive
Nature Effects Earth and a Dark Brown wash. Drab shade was airbrushed using a sponge to
create some irregular effects
64 REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT
First, I detailed the landing gear doors and the
drop tank using the Ammo by MIG Earth the
same way I did with the Oilbrushers - apply
with a small brush, dab and finally blend. Next
the technique was repeated with some small
dots of the Dark Brown wash. To represent the
earth and mud spattered by the tyres on the
undersides during taxing and take-offs, I used
an old brush loaded with Earth wash and flicked
it over the surface using a toothpick to literally
‘splash’ the product on. Then I cleaned some
areas to create a more concentrated effect on
the flaps. This was then blended using a large
and clean brush.
The exhaust soot was airbrushed on using
a highly thinned mix of Red Brown and Matt
Black. The same mix was also used on the front
end of the rocket launchers as well. Next, I used
the same pigments, which I used on the tyres
(Europe Earth) and to represent some soot
(Black) on the guns shell ejection ports. The
last weathering ‘tools’ were some Prismacolor
pencils, with Silver being used to create some
small scratches around various access panels,
and a Light Blue to create some wear to the
national insignias blue disk. Time now to add
Ash Black and Dark Green
Shaders were used to highlight
the control surfaces edges
giving more volume
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After removing the liquid mask,
a thin coat of Gun Metal was
applied to reduce the contrast
between the shades and give a
worn look to the part
the gun muzzles. The two smaller ones
on each wing were already moulded on
and the wing insert parts already had the
appropriate ‘tube’ looking representation,
but the larger ones were solid parts, too small
for manual drilling. These were then replaced
by Albion Alloys brass tubes cut to size and Decals for the Brazilian
secured with CA glue. The gun barrels were version came from the superb FCM
decal set, which reacted perfectly to
then brush painted using Molotow Liquid Ammo by MIG Set and Fix solutions
Chrome. Next, it was just a matter of gluing all
smaller parts together.
Chromate Yellow and Steel were
used to create some paint chippings
on the wing roots and leading edges
using the sponge technique
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 65

‘ARLETTE’
A mix of Field Green,
Ochre and White
Oilbrushers was used to
create more faded effects on
the camouflage

Small scratches were carefully

added using a Silver pencil

I was very happy with the final result of

this project, especially as it was my my first
experience on seriously weathering an Olive
Drab and Neutral Grey camouflaged aircraft.
For sure more will come on this. MA

Ready for final assembly

66 PZL P.11A POLISH FIGHTER
Rafał Lebioda
builds the 1:72
IBG PZL P.IIa
Polish Fighter
A
s soon as I heard that IBG Models
was releasing the famous 1:72
PZL P.IIa, I knew this would be a
model that I would actually queue
outside my local hobby shop for! As
soon as the model was in my hands I started
building, and as always, I started by carefully
checking the instructions, and then scouring
the internet for references. This allowed me to
make a solid start on the construction as well
as providing some inspiration. The parts came
on a few grey sprues and were cast with a very
The completed cockpit
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
high level of detailing. The instructions were in
the shape of a typically clear IBG manual, and
I began by removing the cockpit frame parts
from the sprues. There was also a small etched
fret containing several elements designed for
the interior to work with, along with parts for
the exterior. After installing all of these parts, I
covered everything with a coat of Mr Surfacer
1200. Then I sprayed on some Tamiya XF-1
Black followed by Mr Hobby SM201 Super Fine
Silver from their Super Metallic II series. I then PZL P.11a Polish Fighter
painted the other elements of the interior such Manufacturer: IBG
as the pilot’s seat, and then gave everything a Scale: 1:72
coat of Gloss, before applying some Ammo Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
by MIG US Modern Vehicles Wash. Once dry, Kit Number: 72517
I removed the excess with a cotton bud and
then applied a Matt coat.
I then fixed the cockpit into one of the fuselage a final run over with a sanding cloth
fuselage halves and then glued both sides before applying another coat of Mr Surfacer. In
together. The fit was near perfect with just the next stage I started preparing the wings.
a touch of putty needed here and there. The wings had three elements, one, the upper
After a little sanding I applied a coat of Mr wing with its characteristic curve and two
Surfacer 500, which was perfectly suited for lower parts. There were no surprises here as
levelling small scratches. Once dry I checked everything fitted together very well. I just
for anything I had missed and then gave the had to refine the leading edges a touch using
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 67

POLISH FIGHTER
The main colour used was Mr
Hobby H81 Khaki

various grades of sanding sticks. The undersides were

The tail planes were then painted with Mr Hobby
H57 Light Blue
assembled, and I chose to show
them deflected downward for
more interest, and I also added the
smaller etched reinforcement parts,
which looked really good. I then set everything
aside to dry for twenty-four hours. I then fixed I chose an aircraft from
the wings to the fuselage, again without any the Polish 114th Fighter
Squadron….
issues and also showed the ailerons in the down
position. I then added the wing and tail plane

I KNEW THIS WOULD BE A MODEL THAT I

WOULD ACTUALLY QUEUE OUTSIDE MY LOCAL
HOBBY SHOP FOR!

…..and the large

decals settled
perfectly

The decals reacted well with Mr Hobby products

68 PZL P.11A POLISH FIGHTER WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

Oil paint washes

picked out the fine
details

The windscreen
struts, and again left the model to dry. Now and mirror being
attached
I was able to proceed with the construction
of the wheels and undercarriage. The main
wheel assembly consists of two forks and some
etched elements, along
with the wheels
themselves.
I painted the
wheels Khaki and
the tyres with Mr
Hobby Tire Black and set
these aside to add later.
With everything dry, I began to
add some paint by applying a primer
coat of Mr Hobby SM206 Super Chrome
Silver 2. This gave a beautiful, metallic
surface. I then added some pre-shading using
heavily diluted Mr Hobby H47 Red
Brown. Once dry I began adding
thin layers of the camouflage colour
Mr Hobby H81 Khaki. I then applied
some post-shading by adding a little Mr
Hobby H402 Green Brown to the Khaki.
The undersides of the wings was painted
with Mr Hobby H57 Light Blue. The engine
cowling was also painted, but kept separate,
and the outer ring was masked and painted
in a Copper shade. Then I gently lightened
some areas by adding a little White to the
mix. Once completely dry I added a coat of Mr
Hobby Gloss ready for the decals. For my build
I decided on the markings for an aircraft from
the 114th Fighter Squadron, Poniatów Airport,
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 69

POLISH FIGHTER
the fuselage. Once dry, this was fixed into place
and the masking removed. The engine was
then painted, detailed and the delicate etched
brackets added. This was then fitted into the
cowling and the assembly attached to the
fuselage. I then painted the propeller black and
the spinner Khaki colour. All that was left to do
September 1939. Here I used Mr Mark Setter then was to attach the wheels and the cockpit
Neo and Mr Mark Softener Neo to get the mirror and my PZL P.11a was complete. MA
best results. Once the decals had set, I added
another Gloss coat to seal them in.
Again, once everything had completely
dried, I began to add some weathering using
various oil paints, thinned with White Spirit.
Once I was happy with the look, I applied a
few thin coats of Mr Hobby H103 Premium
Clear Flat.
One of the last stages was masking the tiny
windscreen and painting it. For masking I used
my own templates cut from the Mr Hobby tape,
and then applied the same Khaki as the rest of

• Plastic parts HURRICANE

Mk II B/C
• Decals: six options
• PE parts & Masks
70 F-16AM NATO VIPER WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

A Romanian Falcon
Jezz Coleman adds some colourful camouflage to the 1:48 Kinetic F-16AM

F-16AM NATO Viper

Manufacturer: Kinetic
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: K48002

T
he kit I am using for this build is the fuselage. Then the front intake was assembled
1:48 Kinetic F-16AM NATO Viper, with around the front wheel bay housing, and here
decals from Model Maker. The build I decided that I was going to display this
started with the cockpit, and on the aircraft with a canvas FOD covers added,
main part, which was a one-piece to negate having to work on the intake
tub, there were separately moulded instrument interior! These were made using Milliput
panels that were painted up on their sprues. Fine, which was moulded around the
All the switches and dials were then picked intake and exhaust. These were then put
out and painted prior to being attached to the
cockpit. The ejector seat was made up from
several parts, and suitably painted. Anyone I began with a
that has built a Kinetic F-16 will know that you black basecoat….
have a vast amount of plastic in the box. This is
mainly due to the many variants and weapons
options Kinetic has to offer. With all main
fuselage pieces cut from the sprue, the forward
upper section of the fuselage was glued to the
rear upper section, and then the cockpit was
glued into place.
Next I assembled the rear undercarriage
wheel bays, and these were painted white
then installed into the lower section of the
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 71

A ROMANIAN FALCON
….followed by a
‘marble’ coat….

…and then
the three tone
camouflage

aside for the Milliput to cure. I then assembled

the flaps and leading-edge slats, along with
the vertical stabiliser, and seams were
then cleaned up as neccessary. As I was
not displaying any weapons on this build, I
only needed to glue the fuel tanks and pylons
together, and with that done I was ready to add
some paint.
I started by giving the model a black base
using Hataka Jet Black, followed by a ‘marble
coat’ using Hataka Traffic White. The three-tone

The decals came from

Model Maker…
72 F-16AM NATO VIPER WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

THE THREE-TONE CAMOUFLAGE WAS APPLIED

USING HATAKA’S MODERN ROMANIAN AIR I made FOD covers
for the intake…..
FORCE PAINT SET
camouflage was applied using Hataka Light
Ghost Grey, Grey, Gunship Grey all taken from
their Modern Romanian Air Force Paint Set
Vol.1, masking off each colour as I went with
Blu-Tac for a soft edge camouflage. A gloss
coat of Hataka Clear was then airbrushed over
the entire model to seal the paintwork for Attack sensors. So, all that was left to do now
the decaling stage. The Model Maker decals was to remove the canopy masking and glue
were superb and settled really well with Micro it into position. Although the Kinetic F-16AM
Sol and Micro Set. Once dry another gloss is not a new-tooled kit, with a little bit of care
coat was applied to seal the decals to prior to it builds into a nice replica, and in Romanian
an oil panel wash. This then highlighted the camouflage it very striking. MA
finely recessed details very well. As this was an
aircraft that didn’t have have many flying
hours to its credit, I didn’t want it to look
over weathered. So, all that was left to do
was to start attaching the
sub-assemblies, like
the pylons and
fuel tanks and
finish attaching the
undercarriage and wheel bay doors.
The FOD covers were then brush painted
Hataka Signal Red, and then a coat of Hataka
Matt was applied over the entire model,
and finally the navigation lights
we picked out with a fine
paintbrush. I also added a
few aftermarket parts, which
included the Plus Model
access ladder and the Master
Model Pitot tube and Angle of

..and were sealed

in with a coat of
Hataka Gloss
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 73

A ROMANIAN FALCON
Romanian F-16s in Detail

…and engine exhaust

74 HS BUCCANEER S2B
Mission Models Masterclass
Red Flag to
A Bucc!
Mac Patterson uses Mission
Models Paints to add and
interesting camouflage scheme to
the 1:48 Airfix Buccaneer S2B
T
he Blackburn Buccaneer provided
stoical service to both the Royal
Navy and Airforce for several
decades, however, in a story similar
to that of the UK F-4 Phantom,
the Buccaneer was initially offered to and
rejected by the RAF. Designed in the late
1950’s as a naval strike aircraft to counter the
Soviet cruisers threat, the Buccaneer was
adopted by the Royal Airforce towards the
end of the 1960’s, receiving the remaining
Fleet Air Arm Bucc’s when the Navy retired
its large aircraft carriers. The types Gulf War
swan song was notable as its contribution
to coalition airpower was vital, proving what
an outstandingly capable aircraft, it was. The
subject of this build captures the Buccaneer
at the height of its powers in the mid 1970’s
as one of the RAF aircraft that participated
in the Red Flag 1977 exercises at Nellis AFB.
The low level exploits of the Buccaneer at
Red Flag are stuff of legend, apparently
leaving their American counterparts slack
jawed in amazement, these include the
(possibly) apocryphal tale of an aircraft
clipping a telegraph pole that stood at just
over forty feet high, and it was alleged that
the Buccaneer was in a climb at the time of
contact!
For an aircraft that’s as British as fish and
chips, it’s appropriate that the only viable
kit in 1:48 of the Buccaneer is from the Airfix
stable. Kitted as both Royal Navy and RAF
variants, the Airfix mouldings have been out
for a couple of decades and to be truthful
the plastic can hardly be described as state
of the art. The issues of soft detail, wonky fit
and dubious decals are well known in the
WWW.MISSIONMODELSUS.COM
HS Buccaneer S2B
Manufacturer: Airfix
Scale: 1:48
Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded
Kit Number: A08100
modelling world and may have put people off
even opening the box, but if you want one,
the Bucc literally stops here! After a quick scan
of the plastic, it becomes evident that some of
the parts are simply unusable, most notably
the cockpit, which is highly simplified and does
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
not represent the look of the real thing at all.
Fortunately, NeOmega supply an outstanding
resin replacement set with fantastic levels of
detail. One other immediate issue was the
warping of the upper and lower fuselage
parts, this would need to be resolved as well.
The NeOmega cockpit tub was primed and
airbrushed using Mission Models Light Gull Grey
MMP-069, with the side consoles picked out in
Black, the myriad switches and buttons each
given a dab of either White or Red to highlight
them in relief. The excellent ejection seats were
also painted up, as were the sidewalls and
bulkheads. I popped in some scale decals for
the instrument dials into each bezel and added
a drop of gloss varnish to each to create their
glass faces.
WWW.MISSIONMODELSUS.COM
The NeOmega
cockpit was far
better than that
supplied in the kit
I WANTED TO HAVE ONE OF THE BUCCANEERS ACCESS
PANELS OPEN REVEALING ITS ROLLS ROYCE SPEY ENGINE
I also used a CMK resin
engine insert
Before looking at the fuselage, I wanted to
have one of the Buccaneers access panels open
revealing its Rolls Royce Spey engine. So, taking
a CMK resin engine insert part as the base, I
added various bits of plumbing and wiring
in an attempt to replicate the famous British
jet engine. During test fitting I realised that
there would now not be room to fit the intake
trunking, so I decided to fabricate a pair of intake
covers to blank off this area. The access panel
was then removed from the upper fuselage
part and the painted engine glued in place,
75
MISSION MODELS MASTERCLASS
Here you can see
the cockpit and
engine in situ
the completed NeOmega cockpit was also
secured, the fit being surprisingly good. One
of the idiosyncratic quirks on the Buccaneer,
was its rotating bomb bay, I thought an open
bay would add a level of interest to the build,
so using photographic reference I fabricated
the internal detail on the lower section of the
fuselage.
As mentioned earlier, the upper and lower
fuselage parts were significantly warped,
meaning alignment was going to be a serious
challenge, to aid this I added extra internal tabs
76 HS BUCCANEER S2B WWW.MISSIONMODELSUS.COM

I added a primer
coat….

I thought an open bay would add a level of

interest to the build

to the parts hoping that they would help was masked off and MMP-078 RAF Dark Earth further weathered with a selection of powders
cancel the warping, as the Buccaneer is such airbrushed on in two light coats. I fractionally to replicate the dusty Nevada environment
a big bird, I also added sufficient nose weight darkened the brown and applied a light experienced during the Red Flag exercise.
so it wouldn’t be a tail sitter. After a fair bit of dusting at the demarcation line to create a Airfix provide a respectable selection of
test fitting the halves were glued; at this point modulated look. This was then sealed with a ordnance, the most notable being the huge
make sure you have plenty of clamps to hand! coat of Mission Models Gloss to create a slick external fuel tanks. I feel that these items
The Airfix kit also offers a wing fold option, but surface for the decals to adhere to. The kit were important to create the classic look
again these parts are rather soft in detail and decal sheet does not have the XV352 option, of the Buccaneer, and the tanks are quite
over simplified, so I elected to not to go this so I elected to source the required markings tricky to build due, to the nature of the parts
route, I did however, add extra detail to the from the my ‘spares-box’, with the classic RAF breakdown of the plastic parts, requiring
internal hinge mechanisms seen through the roundels coming from Model Alliance, while careful aligning, filling and sanding. The kit
access panels at the break. After this, the outer I used the excellent Xtradecal RAF Serials and captures really well the Buccaneers robust
wing parts were then glued in place. Prior to Codes sheet to create the aircraft numbers. An undercarriage, designed to handle
painting, I checked the numerous joints for appealing quirk on the Red Flag Buccaneers heavy deck landings, and looks
any potential issues, surprisingly, considering was the cheeky Soviet red star carried on like a solid piece of
the battle to align the fuselage, under a coat the nose, again this was sourced from my engineering. Another
of primer the Bucc looked pretty solid. At this ‘spares-box’ and bedded down with Micro characteristic feature
point I began to reassess the Airfix product Set. Various panel lines and recessed details
and realised that they had captured the ‘coke were picked out with a wash of Lamp Black
bottle’ curves and general muscular stance of oil paint, and any excess was removed with
the aircraft extremely well. a damp cotton bud creating some pleasing
As mentioned, the subject of the build was airflow weathering effects. The airframe was
one of the Buccaneers based at Nellis AFB in
August 1977 during the Red Flag exercises,
the specific aircraft in question being an SB2,
XV352 of no.208 Squadron. This Bucc enjoyed
a long frontline career, a Gulf War veteran, it
served with the RAF until 1994. What really
attracted me to this aircraft, was its distinctive ….follwed by some pre-shading
and unusual ‘Nevada’ camouflage scheme of
temporary Light Stone and Dark Earth over
the classic 1970’s RAF Grey Green. The first
task in replicating this scheme was first
to add some Black pre-shading on
selected lines and panels to I applied the standard
create a modulated look on RAF Grey Green colours
on the tail area
the final finish. An unusual
aspect of the ‘Nevada’
camouflage was that the tail and nose of the
Buccaneers continued to carry the standard
Grey Green camouflage. As with a couple of
recent classic RAF builds, I went straight for the
Mission Models acrylic option specifically RAF
MMP-138 and RAF MMP-077, which are spot
on matches to Sea Grey and Dark Green.
With the nose and tail camouflage done,
these areas were masked and a coat
of MMP-044 British Light Stone
applied as the base ‘Nevada’
scheme colour. Once dry,
the camouflage pattern
MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021 WWW.MISSIONMODELSUS.COM 77

MISSION MODELS MASTERCLASS

For the desert colours
I used MMP-044 British
Light Stone…
…and MMP-078 RAF
Dark Earth

of the Buccaneer is its clamshell airbrake mechanism,

and the kit provides the option of it in the closed
position, but it is simply crying out to be displayed
open, and the detailing on the Airfix parts being
more than acceptable for this purpose. Never having
built a Buccaneer before I was surprised at the size of
the beast, being comparable in proportions to the
Phantom. Hopefully, despite the challenges posed by
the Airfix kit, the final model proves that it is actually
eminently buildable. However, just imagine what a new
modern moulding of the ‘Brick’ would look like! The
Bucc certainly was a ‘does what it says on the
tin’ type of aircraft with outstanding low-level
capabilities. When you see footage from the
1970’s of the big RAF jet thundering across
the Nevada desert, it’s hardly surprising
that our American cousins where
completely thunderstruck by
the Bucc. MA
78 CHECK YOUR REFERENCES
CHECK YOUR
REFERENCES
Models Aircraft’s Monthly Look at New Books
Arado Ar 196 Units in
Combat
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Peter De Jong
ISBN: 9781472844972
Format: Softback
Price: £14.99
B
eating its biplane rivals in
a 1936 Reich Air Ministry
design competition,
the Arado Ar 196 provided the
Kriegsmarine with possibly the
best shipborne reconnaissance
seaplane of World War II. Replacing
the Heinkel He 60 biplane as
the standard catapult-launched
floatplane embarked on the
Kriegsmarine’s capital ships, the Ar
196 flew an assortment of combat
missions during World War II,
including coastal patrol, submarine
hunting, light bombing, general
reconnaissance and convoy escort
sorties. The first vessel to take its
Ar 196A-1s to sea was the pocket
battleship Graf Spee, which
embarked two in the autumn of
1939. The battleships Bismarck and
Tirpitz could carry six Arados each,
the battlecruisers Gneisenauand
Scharnhorst four and smaller
pocket battleships and cruisers
two. Shore-based aircraft were
also operated from coastal ports
on the Channel, Baltic, North Sea
and Bay of Biscay coasts, as well as
in the Balkans and Mediterranean.
In this title, supported by an
excellent selection of photographs
and full-colour illustrations, the
author explores the history of
the Arado Ar 196, detailing their
development and assessing the
combat capabilities of one of the
last fighting seaplanes.
www.ospreypublishing.com
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
A-7 Corsair Units
1975-91
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Peter Mersky
ISBN: 9781472844972
Format: Softback
Price: £14.99
A
t the A-7 Corsair II’s peak
in the mid-1980s, some 30
US Navy squadrons flew
various versions of the aircraft,
including six Naval Air Reserve
units, and these many of these units
saw action across the Middle East.
By the time the jet saw combat in
Operation Desert Storm (1991), there
remained only two fleet squadrons -
many fleet squadrons having either
disestablished or transitioned to
the F/A18 Hornet - but both of these
units (VA-46 and VA-72) played
a major role in the campaign to
free Kuwait. The book details the
technological development and
improvements that were introduced
to the airframe post-Vietnam (the
FLIR targeting pod from 1979 and
AGM-88 HARM missile from 1983
being the most important), and
how they shaped operational
employment of the aircraft. The
jet’s combat experiences in conflicts
during the 1970s (Cambodia), 1980s
(Lebanon, Grenada, Libya and Iran),
and 1990s (Iraq) are explained
in detail, and the authors expert
analysis is supported by numerous
first-hand accounts from naval
aviators that saw action with the A-7
during these campaigns.
www.ospreypublishing.com
Dresden and the
Heavy Bombers
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Author: Frank Musgrove
ISBN: 9781526791009
Format: Softback
Price: £12.99
T
his is the first-hand account
of a young man’s entry
into World War II in 1941,
culminating in his role in the
bombing of Dresden in February
1945 by RAF Bomber Command.
This is not a gung-ho account of
flying with Bomber Command,
instead Musgrove takes the form
of a basic narrative in his memoir,
paying particular attention to fear,
morale and, as the author explains,
the myth of leadership felt by
those involved first-hand. Several
raids are described in detail and
illustrate the variety of experiences,
problems and dangers involved
in such hazardous warfare. First
published nearly sixty years after his
experiences, the author delves into
his recollections of the bombing of
factories and cities to reflect on the
grave moral issues brought on by
this particular raid.
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
 MODEL AIRCRAFT JANUARY 2021
Black Arrow –
Blue Diamond
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Author: Brian Mercer
ISBN: 9781526796813
Format: Softback
Price: £12.99
B
rian Mercer is one of the
most outstanding post-war
RAF fighter pilots and in this
eminently readable autobiography
he recaptures life as it was in the
days of transition from flying
piston-powered aircraft to jet
power. His flying and leadership
skills resulted in a long association
with what was then considered as
the finest aerobatic display team in
the world - Treble One Squadron’s
‘Black Arrows’. Flying the elegant
black Hawker Hunters in large
formation displays was no easy task
and the author explains in great
detail how their legendary precision
was achieved, revealing many
exciting incidents en route. When
Treble One’s Hunters were replaced
with the supersonic Lightning
fighter, it soon became clear that
these superfast aircraft were not
suited to close-up display flying.
Brian was then asked to form a new
RAF display team and continue with
Hunters. This was to become the
No.92 Squadron’s Blue Diamonds’,
who inherited the star role. Faced
with the fact that future promotion
within the RAF would move him
from cockpit to desk, Brian elected
to join then then fledgling airline,
Cathay Pacific. His story continues
with many exciting incidents flying
from the company’s home base at
Kai Tak in Hong Kong.
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Sinking Force Z
1941
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Tony Buttler
ISBN: 9781472846600
Format: Softback
Price: £13.99
I
n late 1941, war was looming
with Japan, and Britain’s
empire in southeast Asia was
at risk. The British government
decided to send Force Z, which
included the state-of-the-art
battleship Prince of Wales and the
battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the
naval defences of Singapore, and
provide a mighty naval deterrent
to Japanese aggression. These two
powerful ships arrived in Singapore
on 2 December - five days before
the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor. But crucially, they lacked
air cover. On 9 December Japanese
scout planes detected Force Z’s
approach in the Gulf of Thailand.
Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships
at sea could manoeuvre, and their
anti-aircraft defences were ready.
But it did no good. The Japanese
dive-bombers and torpedo-
bombers were the most advanced
in the world, and the battle was
one-sided. Strategically, the loss of
Force Z was a colossal disaster for
the British, and one that effectively
marked the end of its empire in the
East. But even more importantly,
the sinking marked the last time
that battleships were considered to
be the masters of the ocean. From
that day on, air power rather than
big guns would be the deciding
factor in naval warfare.
www.ospreypublishing.com
Cold War Delta Prototypes
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Tony Buttler
ISBN: 9781472843333
Format: Softback
Price: £13.99
A
t the dawn of the
supersonic jet age, aircraft
designers were forced to
devise radical new planforms that
suited the new power of the jet
engine. One of the most successful
was the delta wing. Although
Gloster produced the delta wing
Javelin, and Boulton Paul -its
P.111 research aircraft - Fairey
and Avro were the champions of
the delta in Britain. Meanwhile
in America, with the exception
of Douglas’s Navy jet fighter
programmes, Convair largely had
the delta wing to itself. These
development lines, one on each
side of the Atlantic, had essentially
the same objective - to produce
high-speed fighter aircraft. In
Britain, the Fairey Delta 2 went
on to break the World Air Speed
Record in spectacular fashion,
but it failed to win a production
order. In contrast Convair received
major orders for two jet fighter
types and one jet bomber. At
the same time, the British Avro
79
CHECK YOUR REFERENCES
company built the 707 family of
research aircraft, which led to
the famous Vulcan, to show how
the delta wing could be adopted
for a highly successful subsonic
bomber. This book examines the
development of the delta wing in
Britain and America, and the way
in which experimental aircraft
like the Fairey Deltas proved their
potential and versatility. In Britain
it covers the Fairey Delta 1 and
Fairey Delta 2, the proposed Fairey
Delta Rocket Fighter and huge
Delta 3 long range interceptor,
and the Avro 707. On the American
side, it examines the Convair XF-92
and XF-92A, the development
of the Delta Dagger/Delta Dart
family, and the Convair Sea Dart
- the world’s only supersonic
seaplane.
www.ospreypublishing.com
80 CHECK YOUR REFERENCES
Apache Over
Libya
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Author: Will Laidlaw
ISBN: 9781526796820
Format: Softback
Price: £14.99
I
n May 2011, after a
Mediterranean exercise to
prove the Apache’s ability
to work shipborne, HMS Ocean
and her embarked Apache attack
helicopters from 656 Squadron,
Army Air Corps were about to head
home. But the civil war in Libya and
the resulting NATO air campaign
intervened. A few days later the
author and his fellow Apache
pilots were in action at night over
hostile territory. Within the range
of Gaddafi’s capable air defence
systems and land forces once in
sight of the coast, they had to fight
their way into Libya, complete their
mission evading lethal ground fire,
before the hazardous return to
Ocean. Despite Libya’s state-of-
the-art arsenal of ground-to-air
weapons, the Apaches made
nightly raids at ultra-low-level
behind enemy lines. Apache Over
Libya describes the experiences
of eight Army and two Royal Navy
pilots who played a significant
role in the NATO led campaign.
Despite fighting the best armed
enemy British aircrew have faced in
generations, they defied the odds
and survived. Thrilling first-hand
action accounts vividly convey
what it means to fly the Apache in
combat at sea and over enemy-
held terrain. An unforgettable
and unique account which gives a
rare insight into attack helicopter
operations in war.
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Holding the Line
Publisher: Osprey
Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
ISBN: 9781472831736
Format: Softback
Price: £14.99
N
aval and air power were
crucial to the United Nations’
success in the Korean
War, as it sought to negate the
overwhelming Chinese advantage
in manpower. In what became
known as the ‘long hard slog’,
naval aviators sought to slow and
cut off communist forces and
support troops on the ground.
USS Leyte (CV-32) operated off
Korea in the Sea of Japan for a
record ninety-three continuous
days to support the Marines in their
epic retreat out of North Korea
and was crucial in the battles of
the spring and summer of 1951 in
which the UN forces again battled
to the 38th Parallel. All of this was
accomplished with a force that
was in the midst of change, as jet
aircraft altered the entire nature
of naval aviation. Holding the
Line chronicles the carrier war in
Korea from the first day of the war
to the last, focusing on front-line
combat, while also describing the
technical development of aircraft
and shipboard operations, and
how these all affected the broader
strategic situation on the Korean
Peninsula.
www.ospreypublishing.com
WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM
English Electric Canberra
in British Service
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Author: Martin Derry and Neil
Robinson
ISBN: 9781526742537
Format: Softback
Price: £16.99
D
eveloped by English Electric
during the late 1940s –
essentially as a successor to
the wartime de Havilland Mosquito
twin-engine, unarmed, fast bomber
concept – the Canberra can lay
claim to being the first British jet-
powered medium bomber when it
was introduced into RAF service in
May 1951. The Canberra became the
first jet aircraft to make a non-stop
transatlantic flight and amongst
the performance requirements
for the type was the demand for a
high-altitude bombing capability
in addition to flying at high
speeds, and in February 1951, and
throughout most of the decade,
the Canberra could fly at a higher
altitude than any other bomber or
even any other aircraft, establishing
a world altitude record of 70,310ft
in 1957. The Canberra proved to be
a highly adaptable airframe, and
following the entry of the Vickers
Valiant, the first of the trio of V
Bombers in to RAF service in 1955,
(see Flight Craft 7 ‘Valiant, Victor
and Vulcan’) which were capable
of carrying much heavier weapon
loads (including nuclear weapons)
over longer ranges, the Canberra
continued to serve in a variety
of varied roles including tactical
nuclear strike, low-level strike
and ground attack in its B(I).6 and
B(I).8 variants, photographic and
electronic reconnaissance platform
in its PR variants, multi-task training
aircraft and inevitably its invaluable
service with specialised MoD Test
and Evaluation units. Serving in all
the RAF’s Theatres of Operations
including the UK, the Middle and
Far East and RAF Germany, the RAF
continued to operate the Canberra
for 50 years from the Suez Crisis
in November 1956 to its service
in Afghanistan in June 2006. The
Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm also
operated Canberra’s, initially as
radio-controlled target drones and
later by the Fleet Requirements
Unit. Although outside the scope
of this particular title, it is of interest
to note that the Canberra was a
significant aircraft on the export
market, being operated by the air
forces of many nations and was
licence produced in Australia and
the USA.
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Shop & Web Guide
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82 VOLUME 20 ISSUE 01 WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM

In The Next Issue

For the February 2021 Issue of Model Aircraft, here’s just a
little of what we have planned!
An African Warrior - Polish Heart Model Aircraft Manual
Kornel Kornik Nowicki details the 1:32 Tamiya Gallic Striker - James Bamford builds the 1:48
Spitfire Mk.IXc from ‘Skalski’s Circus’ HobbyBoss Rafale C with Syhart Decals

Top Cat! High Tech Attacker

Vitor Costa guides you through painting and Grant Dalzell builds the new
detailing the 1:48 Tamiya F-14A 1:48 Kinetic F-16I

Step-by-Step Plus much, much more!

McKnight’s Mount - Luis Picalau builds the 1:48
Airfix Hawker Hurricane Mk.1

A Colourful ‘Seagull’
James Ashton builds the
1:32 Trumpeter P-47D

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