April 2021

This one is a biggy!

It has sat in our loft for nearly 10 years, but 2021 lockdown seemed to be the perfect opportunity.  This is the Heller E-3 kit with Combat Decals markings for an E-3D Sentry AWACS of VIII Sqn at RAF Waddington in 2015.   

Despite its size, this is quite a simple kit, but building something much larger than normal has brought its own problems!

December 2020

What a nightmare year this has been, but it’s nearly over now, so here is something special from the What-if stable to end the year.

This is the Project X Vacform of the Hawker P.1121 “Hurricane” from the late 1950s / early 1960s.  I’ve chosen to represent a Hurricane of 603 Sqn Royal Auxiliary Air Force, providing air defence of the Northern Region.  This is also, in a roundabout way, my 2020 Battle of Britain memorial build, since 603 Sqn, flying Supermarine Spitfires, were the highest scoring squadron in the battle.

Thank you to those who have read the website and commented on my models over the year.  Take care of yourselves and those around you. Enjoy your Xmas break as best you can and I wish you all the very best of luck for a better 2021.

January 2021

Over the Christmas break I have been occupied building a number of small trainers.  First up is this Airfix Shorts Tucano T.1 of No.1 Flying Training School, Linton-on-Ouse, which provided elementary flying training for new RN, Army & RAF pilots until its closure in 2019.    

The Tucano was accompanied on the training syllabus by the Grob Tutor T.1.  This is a Tutor of 727 Naval Air Squadron, which conducted Flying Grading for new RN pilots out of Plymouth Airport, then at RNAS Yeovilton.  The kit comes from Heritage Aviation models in resin, vacform and white metal.  

February 2021

So here we are in lockdown again, although hopefully no one is surprised this time.  Please stay safe everyone !

Another trainer, but this time a jet with a rather flashy colour scheme and fully loaded with fuel tanks and missiles!   

This is the Airfix BAE SYSTEMS Hawk 120D Advanced Jet Trainer demonstrator.  

Not an easy set of decals to apply, but I got there in the end.

March 2021

My Hawk and trainer binge has continued into the new year!   This is the Italeri  T-45C Goshawk trainer of the USN Navy.   The kit has seen a few simple modifications and the very colourful replacement decals come from Caracal.

The newer Airfix Hawk kit is a relatively pleasant build.  After all of my “fancy” Hawks, here is one in its working clothes !   This is a Hawk T.1 from 151(F) Sqn at RAF Chivenor in the early 1980s.

May 2021  This month sees the 40th anniversary of my joining HMS HERMES as a junior officer in my first appointment.  Sadly, this year also sees the end of this majestic ship, as the former INS VIRAAT sits forlornly on an Indian beach being dismantled for scrap.  

To celebrate the career of this  longest ever serving aircraft carrier,  for this month and next I have brought together a set of model builds, new and old, of aircraft that served on her throughout the years in her many guises……..

Part 1 - Sea Harriers - First and last:  An FRS.1 of 800 Sqn in May 1981, an FRS.51 of 300 Sqn in 1987 and a LUSH FRS.51 of 300 Sqn in 2016.  

Part 2 - The Falklands 1982:  Two Sea Harriers from what was perhaps HERMES/VIRAAT’s greatest hour - 1982 and the South Atlantic.  800, 899 and 809 Sqns.

Part 3 - The Cyprus Emergency 1974:  A Wessex V of 845 Sqn and Sea King HAS.1 from 814 on the war torn holiday beaches of Kyrenia and reinforcing Akrotiri in 1974.

Part 4 - Strike Carrier will follow next month  !

June 2021  The completion of my HMS HERMES Air Group modelling project sees one new model joining two older builds from her period as a conventional Strike Carrier in the1960s.

Part 4 - Strike Carrier:  A Sea Vixen FAW.2 from 893 Sqn in 1968, a Buccaneer S.2 of 801 Sqn, also in 1968 and Scimitar F.1 of 803 Sqn in 1962.  

July 2021

Right up to date now; with the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG-21) departing for a 7-month global deployment in June, I thought it time to update my older Italeri EH101 Merlin model to a Crowsnest AW-101 Merlin HM.2 AEW/ASACs fitted aircraft from 820 Naval Air Squadron embarked in HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH.  

A relatively simple update that reflects well this unusual and important real-life aircraft conversion!

August 2021

It has been a little too hot for modelling recently, so one of my projects for this month has made little progress.  Nevertheless,  I have completed this Airfix Dassault Super Mystere B.2 of the French Air Force, using ModelDecal markings for an aircraft that attended the 1977 Greenham Common Air Show.

September 2021

Slightly later than planned, I have spent the last few months trying to finish this Heller kit of the Canadair CL-415 Water Bomber, inspired by a visit I made 4 years ago to their base in Marseille.  

This is the Heller issue of a French Securite Civile aircraft. - It’s not  a difficult kit, but that yellow is a bit of a challenge !  

October 2021

After last month’s challenging “yellow-fest”, I have come back down to earth with a simple but good looking AFV model from Dragon.

This is the M1296 Stryker Dragoon, a throughly modern kit that was a pleasure to build. And provides an interesting comparison with my 2012 Academy Stryker model.  

November 2021

Unfortunately, its been another slow modelling month for me, with a lot of distractions in the real word, including a dose of Covid in the house (not me, fortunately) and a full migration of this website to a different hosting package and SSL certificate, which I hope has passed without problems.  

Nevertheless, I have actually been building and next month should have a much better naval aircraft model to show!  

My only completion for the month is another AFV, this time the ACE 1/72 FV632 Stalwart ammunition carrier.  A fairly complex kit, that needs some care in assembly.