A little work in progress

[Freightdog862]

Great Twin Otter Martin.

[Weaver]

I like the Cougar: that's very credible, and I always thought the right solution for the RAF/AAC was to slowly replace the Puma with Cougars on a squadron-by-squadron basis during the 1990s.

[Martin H]

Right I know its March, but heres the first few builds I've finnished for 2019..................

First up a hanger queen thats been sulking on my shelf of doom for 2-3 years,
Fairchild Argus Mk-1, of the Royal Rhodesian Airforce. from the late 1950's, early 1960's


This is an old Lagato kit. Originaly it was going to be a real world Thai airforce bird. But as you do when building I got bored half way through and put it to one side.
Then I got interested in the Rhodesian bush war. And after a little dig around the old interweb I found a guy in South Africa who does his own range of decals covering a multitude of African subjects including plenty of Rhodesian subjects. Mav decals is the name. Click here to see the web site. These are laser printed and need a coat of varnish before using so I used the fairchild as the test bed for the decals, hence why the Thai option went the way of the dodo. Must say the decals went on well, and I was quite impressed with them.

Still on the Rhodesian kick...................Onther hanger queen, dating from last summer.
Rhodesian Airforce Swift FR-5, circa the early 1970's


Airfix kit built OOB bar the paint job. Decals lifted from an Xtradecal export Hunter sheet.

third Rhodie build.............


Dornier Do27. A Huma kit built OOB, Again in the UDI era markings for the Rhodesian Airforce. The decals are from Mav decals.

Forth...............
another Dornier.


This is the Revell boxing of yee oldee matchbox Skyservent kit. Colors and decals are as per the Do27. The eagled eyed amoung you may spot the tail wheel is a bit meater than the normal kit one. Blame the carpet monster! Im saying the Rhodesians fitted heavier units to better withstand the bush conditions these birds would have been subject to.....................Im also thinking that the spatted main gear would almost certainly have earned the skyservent the kickname of the Stuka! I know its not a Junkers, but its German so to airman it would be close enougth.

And finaly. Another swift.


Swift F mk-4 of the Chilian Airforce.
Airfix FR-5 with an Allycat F-4 conversion. I say Allycat as they do the set now, This one came from Colin when he issued it for a short while.
This one was started a few months before the Rhodie FR-5, and wasnt that easy a conversion to work with. Ive manged to hide most of the crimes on top, but it shows under close inspection of the underside. This one has had a change of end user as well. It was originaly going to be Swiss, then I was going down the Rhodesian road, then finaly settled on Chile yesterday. Decals from the same Hunter sheet at the scheme used on the FR-5

Group shot.

[kitnut617]

Martin, you might want to check out Aircraft in Miniature's website, Neil Gaunt does a lot of Rhodesian decal schemes. He's originally from there apparently ---

[TheChronicOne]

Quite nice, thank you! Love them Rhodesians.

[Thorvic]

Nice work  , so how many are you going to finish today 

[scooter]

And the U-Wing?  Who's colours is that getting?

[Martin H]

And the U-Wing?  Who's colours is that getting?

Havent decided that yet 

[NARSES2]

Neat collection Martin, particularly like the Argus 

[Martin H]

Three more finished.................

First up an Dassault MD322 Flamant of the Royal Rhodeasian Airforce from the mid 1960's



This is an Azur kit built OOB. Yes the As11 ASM's came with the kit. These things were used in the coin roll by the French in Algeria. Even thou they are realy nav trainers and light transports.
When I first saw the kit a few years back at Telford it just screamed Rhodeasian at me........... I started this at the same time as two Dorniers that are shown in my last post. This being a short run kit it needed more TLC while building.
You can see by the little prop under the trailing edge that this thing is a tail sitter.....even with 40-50 grams of lead under the cockpit floor. Size wise the Flamant is about the same as a Pembroke or Twin Otter. I have two more of these in the stash. Another MD311, and a MD315 light transport, with a solid nose.

Next a pair of Hanger queens.
Time to head Down under.


Vought F-8H Crusader of the RAN.
This was an old Ecsi kit that I started and got bored with about three years ago. I dug it out yesterday and started to throw paint at it. I couldn't quite make up my mind while painting it, would be a real world build or a whif? Then Geoff / Thorvic planted the RAN seed in my head, so here it is.................

And last but by no means least.......A Kiwi.


Cessna A-37B Dragon fly of the RNZAF.............
I cant remember when this one got started, must be at least 6 years ago. Its an old Hasegawa kit with a few missing small parts that I picked up 2nd hand. I used it this weekend as a test bed for some MRP acrylic paints that I bought to try out at the Bolton show. The kit had no decals so an old set from a matchbox strikemaster sorted that out.........

[PR19_Kit]

LOVE that Flamant, it looks really good with those AS11s under the wings, however incongruous they seem at first glance. 

And the two 'Down Under' jets are good too, that A-37 looks like it flew all the way from the US non-stop with all those drop tanks! 

[zenrat]

Good work Martin.  I particularly like the Dassault.

FYI according to what I have read on the F-8 when the wing is up then the slats and flaps are down.

[NARSES2]

Really nice stuff Martin, but I do really like the Flamant even though at first glance it does look incongruous with the AS-11's 

See you seem to work in 3's like me ?

[Martin H]

FYI according to what I have read on the F-8 when the wing is up then the slats and flaps are down.

The flaps down a little. As for the slats. They wernt molded on the kit. Other wise they would be there............

[kitnut617]

FYI according to what I have read on the F-8 when the wing is up then the slats and flaps are down.

The flaps down a little. As for the slats. They wernt molded on the kit. Other wise they would be there............

There's an aftermarket outfit that makes a replacement wing with everything drooping down -- Wolfpack 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolfpack-1-72-F-8-J-P-Crusader-Flap-Down-Set-for-Academy-Resin-Detail-WP72026-/141960076596