Hi everyone as she works in the Post Office Tracy has informed me that as of April 3rd 1st Class stamps will cost ?1.10p, up from 95p, and 2nd Class 75p up from 68p. So if you use 'snail mail' I suggest you stock up now. We have our stash for birthdays and Christmas now, can't you tell we were born in Yorkshire, lol!!!!!

This is the Matchbox 1975 release of the Vickers Wellington Mk.X with the option to build a Mk.XIV of Coastal Command. A sign of the times is the fact that it is moulded in 3 colours of plastic, the internal detail is minimal although the external fabric effect is passable, and the painting instructions are on the back of the box. It is another of the 'pre-owned' kits I've bought recently and as such the wings have been glued together, most of the parts are off the sprue trees (let's hope they're all there when needed!), the windows are in place as is the cockpit floor and seats with some painting done in the area. Looking at my poor photo the seat on the left is for the Mk.XIV and needs adapting as the Mk.X, which I'm building, had a 'jockey seat' which folded down from the fuselage wall.

Various magazines, on-line articles and documentaries refer to this aircraft as 'Hitler's Stealth Aircraft' which is total rubbish. Given the a/c has a small frontal area and wooden wings it is the culmination of the Horten brothers work dating back to 1937 on flying wing gliders and latterly with help from Gotha and is an adaption of a request from Goring for a 1000x1000x1000 bomber, downsized to create a heavy fighter. The first prototype flew on February 28th 1944 and the second flew on February 2nd 1945. Due to the fatal crash of one of the prototypes Gotha decided to test the next three prototypes without additional equipment or armament after receiving an order for series production. After the war the fuselage centre section and wings of the V3 were worked on under the Americans with it eventually being taken to America where in now resides in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, Chantilly, VA.
This the Revell 2006 reboxing of their original 1994 kit updated with new decals. The parts are crisply moulded with fine panel lines although some push-out pin points and ejector tabs are to be found, Various parts for the undercarriage and cockpit framing require careful removal from the sprues due their thinness. It's been in the stash so long that I'd forgotten I'd primed the parts previously. When assembling the cockpit I left the sides and floor unpainted so the framework would fit better, also leaving off the control console and bracing. Everything in the cockpit was painted Tamiya RLM 66 with the ejector seat moulded on belt detail being Citadel Lothern Blue with Vallejo Metallic Silver buckles. All the undercarriage parts, internal frame works, both halves of the fuselage interior and wing ends were painted Humbrol RLM 02 as there will be a lot visible once built.

From early 1942 Chief Designer Richard Vogt encouraged his team at Blohm und Voss to come up with solutions to aeronautical problems that defied convention. One such solution was the P.163, which rather than using aluminium was to have been built from steel. The unusual design was to have a crew of four housed in two wingtip nacelles, bomb load was to be 2000kg and armament seven MG151/20, four of which gave excellent rearward defence and one housed in a fully rotating turret. Two versions were planned, the P.163.01 powered by a Daimler Benz DB613 inline engine and the .02 powered by a BMW 803 radial. To test the viability of the design a BV 141 had another fuselage nacelle attached to the port wing and one statement records that the aircraft was controlled from it. No photographs exist of the aircraft but there are two composites online one of which is an altered image using the BV 141 V9 and this is the one I based my model build on. So on to the model....
I built the Airfix kit of the BV 141 when it was first released in 1971 and it shows, heavy enamel paint lines, no sanding, glue runs etc. I obtained another kit from Wizzle as once I'd seen an image of the adapted BV 141 I had it at the back of my mind to build one using my original as a start point. Much scraping of paint and transfers, over several sessions, was followed by repeated sanding and undercoats. The second nacelle was built after removing the wing roots with the tab holes blanked off with plastic card and smoothed over with filler. Once built the nacelle was attached to the wing, which had had it's tip removed and a section of plastic card attached using superglue gel and Platic Weld to get as stronger bond as possible.

Whilst wondering what to build next I decided it was time to use the Akan set of paints I bought a while back for the MiG 29UB in my stash. It's the 1990 Revell reboxing of their 1988 release of the original ACE Model Kits plane from the same year. I don't know if this is the same ACE Models who now make AFV kits. The kit has the usual instruction booklet with only Revell brand paints shown. As we know their colours and 'mixes' are a nightmare, as an example whilst in Hobby Craft the other day looking for a match for RLM 82 I found THREE different numbered pots of Dunklegrun!! There are 3 parts runners moulded in grey plastic and a one piece clear canopy. The decals offer the choice of either a Russian or Yugoslav a/c but as this will be part of my 'Places wot I have been to' collection it will be finished in Qazaq (new spelling) colours using the Linden Hill decals I have in stock. Online reviews say the front of the wing where it joins the fuselage is incorrect and the nose wheel leg is too short. The former means a lot of work so I'll live with it, the latter 'should be' easy to correct.

On a recent trip to Lidl we bought some Sushi and once eaten I noticed that one of the trays looked useful for putting brushes, tools, glue etc. in. This was 'field tested' yesterday in the summerhouse and worked well.

This is the 2011 Trumpeter release which I obtained via Howard, thanks Howard, of a kit and plane I'd fancied making for a while. 151 light grey parts are spread over 5 sprues with an additional clear one for the cockpit, lights etc. Decals provide 3 markings, 2 from HMS Eagle, 1 of which is for the Suez Campaign, and 1 for an a/c from HMS Ark Royal. Also included is a clear film decal for the middle of the instrument panel but Trumpeter would have been better off providing etch seat belts in place of this as I had to make mine from Tamiya tape and you can't see the detail once it's in place. A comprehensive booklet guides you through the build though it does jump around a bit, as inpart way through the cockpit build it moves to the torpedo and propellers. Could it be that Trumpeter know we build other parts whilst waiting for glue to set and paint to dry?
For a highly engineered kit there are a lot of ejector pin marks most of which thankfully are hidden but the good news is the sprue attachment points for the wings are on the mating face not the leading edge which makes cleaning up a lot easier. The ejector seat is made up from 9 pieces and I went with Trumpeter's colours as online photos of Martin Baker M2B seats are few and inconclusive. Painted mostly in Vallejo Light Aircraft Grey it and the rest of the cockpit were treated to washes and dry brushing to pop out the detail. One of the things I like about this kit are the 'tongue and groove' attachments which give a positive of parts. Something other manufacturers could learn from.

I built this kit at Play Day 8 to go on the 'Make & Take' table in September. It's the 2017 rebox of the new tooling and came in a bag with just the instructions. No decals and the message "just build it, don't paint it". So what do you get? 43 parts on 3 sprues, 6 of which I didn't use as 4 are for 'wheels up' and 2 for folded wing tips though this isn't an option,  plus a clear canopy, some of which are very small and fragile so it may challenge some of the younger builders. It did John and Peter but that's another story. The pegs for the seat on the rear cockpit bulkhead are delicate with one breaking off as I removed the sprues from the bag and another following shortly. Whilst these were mending I started the engine. For whatever reason the front bank of cylinders is moulded in a circular frame which makes removal interesting and it also has flash. When it came to fitting the propeller boss through it I had to push hard to get it through. Remember I'm building this without filing, sanding etc, Next up was the cockpit interior, the side walls have adequate detail on them, the instrument panel is a blank, no doubt there would be a decal, and the joystick had an ejector pin on it and consequently broke needing repair when I tried to remove it. With everything mended and in place the fuselage was closed up followed by fitting the front fuselage top, to which the mg gun breeches are fitted, followed by the engine and cowling. There isn't a lot of purchase for this to the fuselage and when I fitted the bottom wing the latter fell off so I would say if building this kit fit the bottom wing then the cowling. Normally I would sand the wing parts for a good fit, as I would the tailplanes, so there are gaps. Two very small actuators and a pitot complete the wings.
Next up is the undercarriage and there are two small doors that fit on the outer edge of the well and the instructions make it appear at first glance as though they go in the holes, They don't they're for the u/c legs. The wheel hubs only have detail on one side so make sure that side faces out. I'd cut out the slot for the belly tank prior to fitting the wings and this was then fitted followed by the propeller and spinner. Time to fit the pilot. Now this guy must have been a Sumo wrestler as he was too big and in trying to force him in I broke the seat off it's mountings, remember I said they were delicate. So he was left out and the seat repositioned. With the aerial put in place and the canopy slotted over the build was complete.
This is a well detailed kit though the panel lines are a bit deep and some of the parts are a bit small, with the now usual Airfix tight tolerances. If I wasn't building it at 'Warp factor Wayne' then I'd have spent more time getting things to fit better and tidying up the gaps. If one of these turns up in Aldi or Lidl at a reduced price then I might just be tempted to get one though this boxing A01005A only have one decal option.