trial run

James May's Great Train Race 2011 - Toy Stories... by MyJMPage

The F-35A (Lightning II)

F-35A in unofficial RAF colours

Italeri F-35A Lightning II ZZ928 (3 Squadron)

This is the new Italeri F-35A, It has been put into the colours of Number 3 squadron, in respect of the Squadrons motto, "The third shall be first". This was a fairly easy kit to construct but it is a pity that the jet engine is not on show as this was a kit in itself and looked fantastic when completed. The exterior paintwork was rather fiddly but worth several hours with the small paintbrush.

The Helicopter Fleet

My current Helicopter fleet.

Huma Focke-Achgelis FA-223.

A practical helicopter that should have taken off in WWII, it was only the allied bombing campaign that meant that only 20 were built.

Westland Sea King Mk.41 (Royal Navy)

This is the Revell tooling with spare decals coming from an Airfix AEW.2 kit. The Revell helicopter is by far and away the better kit in my opinion. Easier to build and a better finish in the end.

(Apologies for picture absence)

The Lighting Fleet

My current Lightning fleet.

Hasegawa Lightning F.6 XR753 (23 Squadron)

Whirlybird Decals Lightning T.4 Prototype XL628

Airfix Lightning F.2A XN793 (92 Squadron)

Hasegawa Lightning F.6 XR760 (11 Squadron)

All of these were fairly easy builds with the exception of the Whirlybird T.4 . This was the first Resin kit I have ever constructed, but all things considered it turned out Ok.

Revell Soyuz/Progress

Enhancing very basic kits

These kit components came as part of the Revell International Space Station (04841) and these were very much a case of research and make good, as these were very basic in terms of what could be done with them. I eventually decided to enhance the appearance of these kits by looking for paper model components and/or detailing packs.

My search for detailing packs were fruitless so in the end I decided to look for paper models to enhance the kits. This met with great success and i located a site where i could print copies of Soyuz-TMA and Progress-M modules with ease. I carved out components from these to enhance my models.

Enhanced on the left (Soyuz TMA-5 Markings), Original on the right

The differences are clearly visible, this took a bit of work cutting out specific pieces but the result was worth it in the end. However I would recommend when building the periscope to use a cocktail stick as opposed to a paper cone as this is far easier to create and indeed far more stable!

Thanks for your attention, most of my other posts will simply be photographs of my projects.