December -
The last build of the year, with various aerials added, IR Jammer beneath tail, new
optical sight, BERP blades and reverse tail rotor. HOT launchers replaced with scratch
built TOW launchers. Spelling out “Royal Marines” in individual letters drove me
nuts. Then, the matt finishing coat looked all wrong, so had to be redone in satin. You
cant see it, but the pilot & observer are in desert flying overalls, intended to
represent the UK-
November -
Reckon I can churn SHARs out in my sleep now. This one completes my set of 3 FA2s, one of each Sqn. New nose, tail insert and wing roots. Large wing tanks are cut down Airfix Hunter sets. Most markings from Model Alliance.
November -
This e-
October -
Bought this about 20 years ago; another 2 in the stash. Just fancied building it this year. Lovely little kit, but needed a lot of scratch building in the cockpit. Nice glossy Future/Kleer finish over light oily wash looks a lot better in the flesh than this picture. Next up in 2007, the Suez example I meant to do in November for the Suez 60thanniversary.
September -
Realised the Seahawk Stash was getting out of control, so built a few this year. Haven’t paid more than £2 each for any of them so a great kit to practice techniques on. Rescribed, oily wash and Future/Kleer topcoat. Now an expert at scratching Seahawk cockpits, but once again my attempts to bore out the gun ports went awry (the stbd fuselage is definitely much thinner than port). There seems to be a wider range of colourful Seahawk markings than for any other UK aircraft (except possible the Lightning). Markings from various sheets.
August -
Just fancied the look of this one after the Viggen below – picked up from a “rummage” box at a modelling show (FAAMuseum). Its definitely the Italeri mould, but Airfix supply it with less in the way of armament. Good kit though.
July -
Had one of these when it first came out. Another cheap E-
June – Grumman F-
Picked up for a song on e-
June -
Very pleased with this, which definitely took less than a week to build. I intend to do a Revell one in EDSG and white sometime soon, so this old Airfix one in the stash became the boring grey version. Minimal modification to make a GA11 (remove nose, bits of tail, Sabrinas). Used a pencil to mark out panel lines and India Ink fineliner pen for other stains; very effective.
May -
Just a repaint here of a kit I built in the late 1980s – obtained the Model Art decals at a model show so gave it a repaint and general spruce up. Key panels marked out in pencil again. That blasted white window is annoying though!
May -
This is a very old kit, built by me in the early 1970s(must have been about 10yrs old). Poorly built, but with sentimental value ! Has been repainted twice already. Repainted this time from a very dark grey to the correct EDSG. I have now obtained another set of the Modeldecal markings so may redo the whole thing next time.
May -
Saw lots of these for real in the mid 1980s in the Barents Sea. Picked this up for a song (under £3) from my local model shop, which was selling someone’s old collection . Box mouldy and split, no instructions or markings. Lovely kit; very highly recommended. I did a lot of scratch building inside, so I could leave the doors open.
May -
Another “cheapy” from Bath Model Centre. Box mouldy and transfers long past useable. What a truly horrid little kit – nothing fitted together. Still, it looks OK, was very cheap and filled a hole in my collection. Done as a Vichy aircraft opposing the RN invasion of Madagascar.
April -
An e-
April -
Another Seahawk. Nearly as many of these in the stash as Harriers. Built straight out the box and rather disappointing. Developed my cockpit scratch building though; some day soon I will have the nerve to do one of these with the Falcon vacform canopy open so you can see my handiwork.
March -
Love the Starfighter. Only ever seen real ones in Italy, but what a lovely noise
they make ! My Daughter bought a “Tiger Scheme” one at the Yeovilton model show
and whilst helping her to build it, I was very impressed by the kit, so much so that
I sourced one for myself from e-
February -
A repaint here. I was backing the X-
February -
2006 was the last year of the SHAR, and as a serious SHAR enthusiast, I decided to do one in the final 801 Sqn Omega marks. Model Alliance brought out their UK Air Arm Update shortly afterwards; their Omega is in front of the trident and wing, which is wrong. AMRAAMs from the Italeri NATO set; pylons are reversed and trimmed wing pylons. Wing tanks from an Airfix Hunter, chopped in 2, shortened and rejoined.
February -
My 3rd one of these – one with a Hercules and another on its own, both in the 1970s. When
Airfix re-
January -
A good start to an excellent year. Started at the beginning of Xmas leave and finished
in January (a 4-
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