Finished Aircraft Reviews

“The Aeroclub model of the Gnat T.1 is a mixed media kit consisting of injection moulded plastic fuselage, wings, tailplanes, cockpit tub and undercarriage doors with white metal for the engine air intakes, undercarriage, cockpit side consoles, instrument panels and seats.” Ian Graham, Reviewer
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“When I was asked to build this kit I approached it with a bit of trepidation as firstly 1:72 is not my normal scale and secondly this is an old kit but that all said it was a Buccaneer and I like Buccaneers. Upon receiving the kit I liked the box art, a great picture of two Gulf War 1 Bucc`s resplendent in their desert colour scheme with that fantastic nose art. Unfortunately my heart sank when I opened the box to be confronted with my pet hate – raised panel lines!! A closer look at the parts showed the age of this kit as there was a fair bit of flash but nothing that wasn’t easily removed.” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“Initial thoughts upon opening the box is there is a lot of plastic in here, but there again there should be for the £115ish retail price. The kit parts appear to be nicely moulded and there is the biggest instruction book I’ve seen in a model kit along with 2 colour charts for painting the aircraft and the figures that are included. The kit has options for 5 aircraft and it’s nice to see that Airfix have sorted out their previous decal issues by getting Cartograf to produce the ones in this kit. This build will be interesting in another way as I’ve just completed the Tamiya Spitfire so it will be nice to compare what you get for a similar price from both manufacturers but this summation I will leave till my build conclusion. Well enough about initial thoughts lets see how it builds.” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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The instructions would have you use the earlier moulded seat and, to be honest, it isn’t anywhere near as well tooled as the Martin Baker Mk.12 seat designed for the FA2? So I changed the seats over and the FA2 seat does just squeeze into the tub designed for the GR.7. I thought about using the other tub, but it doesn’t look like it will work with the different main instrument shroud, so just the seat was used. Oddly, the GR.7 cockpit tub supplied doesn’t have any side consoles and is incorrectly shaped so to fix this I simply cut the side walls down to make them flatter and this made a flat ledge. Onto that you can stick the decals supplied for use with the FA2 kit, but, of course using the main GR.7 instrument panel in front of the pilot. This has the correct two square CRT screens either side of the main instruments.” Geoff Coughlin, Reviewer
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“Considering this was a build that I initially intended to just do as a time filler in between some bigger projects I ended up being very taken by it ; in fact so much so that I wanted to finish it over these other projects – that gives you an idea of how much fun it was to build. The fit is good, the decals are great, it’s quick to do (I finished it in 2 evenings and an afternoon!!) and it has some great colour schemes. Overall a real pleasure to do and I will definitely be picking up some of Airfix’s new tool releases as they come out especially if this is anything to go by.” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“This 72nd scale MIG 15 was a very pleasant project to build and while not a state-of-the-art kit, it represents a superb balance of cost and quality by Airfix. The packaging is first class and very appealing, the colour camouflage guide is extremely welcome and the model is crisply moulded with enough detail to satisfy a novice or experience modeller. I thoroughly enjoyed building the kit and I would strongly recommend it as a satisfying, quick-build distraction from the more demanding projects that many of us tend all too often to get bogged-down with!” Andy Brown, Reviewer
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“This is a lovely little kit which builds into an excellent replica of an aircraft that played a vital role in the development of anti-aircraft weapon systems and the training of fighter crews. I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit and am very grateful to Alistair McClean for its release. Despite some casting imperfections on my sample I have no hesitation in giving this kit the highest recommendation. If you are interested in the development of UAV’s, surface to air and air to air missile systems or just want a unique and colourful addition to your display shelf you really should get a copy of this kit.” Ian Graham, Reviewer
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“A nice kit that covers a very topical subject. The build is very straight forward and the kit gives you plenty of options for either USAF MQ-1s/RQ-1s or an Italian RQ-1. The cost is a little high for the amount of model you get but that is indicative of the general cost of new kits these days. Overall this is a very nicely produced kit that makes a very interesting subject and is highly recommend – and it can be done in around 3 hours !!!!” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“This is the part that is going to take time, I have never tried this before but my approach to the Natural Metal Finish (NMF) initially will be like Rembrandt approached his portraits!! The mad colours you see on the fuselage will be used as a “show through”. So I am starting by painting random areas in different colours…” Julian Seddon, Reviewer
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“The panel lines and riveting detail is exquisite on the kit. A thinned down mix of black enamel was run into all the panel lining along with the rivet holes then any excess was wiped away.
The exhaust stacks were sprayed Alclad Steel, stippled with Revell rust and then dusted over with a combination of Mig Productions Light Rust and Smoke Black pigments.” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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There is something about Eduard kits that fascinates me, whether it’s the lovely box art or the fact that you need not buy any accessories to build a great model straight from the box.
When Eduard announced they were releasing a 32nd scale BF109E I was over the moon! But after building their Bf110 earlier this year, I was concerned about the 109 being over engineered again. I needn’t have worried. Upon opening the box, which is adorned by some of the nicest box art I have seen in a while, you are greeted by the standard green/brown sprue, a clear sprue for the canopies, two photo etch frets, a set of paint masks for the canopies and wheels and a wonderful decal sheet which allows you to choose from no less than five colour schemes.

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“I enjoy painting and sometimes when I arrive at the time to paint I have already had enough of the assembly problems to have to take a deep breath to continue! In this case it was a pleasure! Julian Seddon, Reviewer
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“A natural metal finish for a Lightning isn’t as difficult as it may at first appear. This is what I did… The whole airframe was carefully sanded and polished using Micromesh cloth 800 – 1300 grade. Then Tamiya Gloss Black (or Alclad gloss black primer) is sprayed onto the whole kit. I left this for about…” Geoff Coughlin, Editor
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“The Aires set provides two cannon bays but I elected to only fit the one on the left hand side. The panel for the AAR bay is easily removed by following the panel lines on the kit but the gun bay panel is a little off. To get round this Aires provide an etched fixing plate for the gun bay opening that makes an excellent template to cut round…” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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The surface detail in the cockpit is nicely done and with a little bit a care can be made to look nice. In this case I picked out all the switches with Vallejo acrylics and used a base of silver cover with Tamiya Clear Green to simulate the CRT screens. The ejection seats are once again quite basic but once the pilots are installed on them and they are located in the tubs they ‘do the job’…“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“The aircraft was variously designated F-22 and F/A-22 during the years prior to formally entering USAF service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Despite a protracted and costly development period, the United States Air Force considers the F-22 a critical component for the future of US tactical air power, and claims that the aircraft is unmatched by any known or projected fighter, while Lockheed Martin claims that the Raptor’s combination of stealth, speed, agility, precision and situational awareness, combined with air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities, makes it the best overall fighter in the world today.“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“I start the painting process by giving the whole model a coat of Tamiya XF-14 J.A. Grey this is then left to dry.

After it has been left for a few hours I then do the pre-shading using Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black trying to keep the line at a consistent size.“ Adam Brown – Reviewer
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“The cockpit assembly is a reasonably straight forward affair. The kit provides 4 different instrument panels (indicates the future release of other models) and it was just a case of using reference pictures to determine which one most closely represented an F model. I found one that was reasonably good but I did add a radar display viewer to the WSO’s panel. The kit provides decals for the main panel and side panels but…” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“This is a nice kit from a modellers’ point of view but from an accuracy point of view it has a lot of issues. If you want a relatively straightforward build this is the kit for you but if accuracy is your thing I would seriously think twice about buying this as a lot of work will be required to get it right.

Personally I did enjoy making it and the colour scheme looks great even if the enamels drove me mad !!” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“The idea for this display came from Geoff and Les who wanted to make a 1:32nd scale Swordfish each. I was approached and asked if I could make a base for the aircraft, one with folded wings and the other with one wing extended fully while the other was partly extended. “A representation of the carrier deck of the Ark Royal would be nice,” said Les. Without thinking…” Bill Curtis, builder
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“The kit now is finally finished and I have to say I really have enjoyed building this kit. The resin conversion set is crisp, clean and in my opinion one of the best resin kits I have worked with. The Vac formed canopy is also great quality. However, with the introduction of the Academy F-16I Sufa kit, It does make me think that the Isracast offering will become a victim here. ” James Vaitkevicius, reviewer
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“My inspiration for this build and the aircraft in general was the original War of the Worlds film. Well thanks to the magic of your SMN you too, if you haven’t seen it can see the clip too and recall that this was 50 years ago and you like I cannot fail to be inspired – It’s truly a beautiful aircraft and I had to build it!”Les Venus, Reviewer
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“At this point in construction this appeared to be more than adequate to keep the nose down but in the final stages of the build when the radome was added to the finished folded wing model it sat on its tail!!! From this I concluded that filling the nose with lead provided enough ballast if the wings are extended but you need to add even more behind the cockpit if you are to fold the wings… Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“The cellulose helps the paint to dry quicker than if you use straight enamel thinners in my view. So, about 36 hours later I was ready to mask over the pink areas. Now for this, you can see that I’m using thin rolled strands of Blu-Tac stationers’ putty. The thinner you role it the finer will be the feathered edge between the camouflage colours. So, in this smaller 1:48 scale the rolls are quite thin. I followed the pattern on the colour painting guide and that’s nice and clear to follow…”Geoff Coughlin, Reviewer
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“My first review for Scale Modelling Now; I have this year dived into the world of 1:32 scale and simply love the attention to detail that manufacturers offer us in this scale. I have previously built models by Tamiya and Trumpeter also in 1:32nd scale; however, this will be my first Revell kit. I am sure you are all aware that this is the eagerly anticipated reply to the Trumpeter kit released earlier this year, which (from previous reviews) lacked detail and accuracy compared to the real aircraft. Revell have included in the kit an option to remove the engine including a static trolley to depict the airframe being maintained. The airframe also includes a detailed airbrake and the option to extend the In Flight Refuelling probe (IFR) should you wish to do so….” James Vaitkevicius, Reviewer
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