new tool 1:72nd Airfix Wessex HC. 2 build review (1)

Now that the replacement sprue has arrived from Airfix (yes, see above - an entire sprue was missing from the sealed, bagged kit!) I can get on with the build of my 'Walter'!

Note on the internal painting of the cabin - blue seats and pea green on the sound quilting. You could usefully add some belt detail, but I have not. Grime it up a bit with an oil wash and a bit of dry-brushing. Good details, including the interior frame and the heating duct, but 27 build stages before closing up the fuselage is probably asking for trouble. 

In the cockpit Airfix provide a choice of instrument panels, one with raised detail or a flat part with decal. Shame that the decal doesn't really look like the real thing. Colour call-outs for the cockpit parts are non-existent - I've done mine in a dark grey, but should probably be black. Note the prominent windscreen wiper motors on the framing behind the panel.

Fitting the cockpit and the cabin roof is fiddly and a very tight fit! A fair bit of fettling required ..and then - despite the okay-ish dry-fit - I couldn't get the fuselage halves together around the nose.  I had this issue on the 48th P-51. Despite this, the fit of the windscreen/canopy is not bad, but might need a little sanding to avoid a 'step'. The canopy will take some time to mask - but certainly no worse than a Ju 88! 

Sprue attachment points are very large and usually on the mating surfaces which makes clean-up a little tricky. Otherwise another notable point about the kit is the tremendous amount of surface detailing - hoist power feed sockets, power take-off points down the fuselage under the pilots door etc. The so-called 'beetle-back' is well done and the prominent cooling louvres are featured after a fashion. Airfix have also moulded the cutouts for those drain points at the forward edge. The representation of the mesh covers is pretty well done and there is a basic gearbox with torque links. 

Folded or flying options are available, folded looks neat with the cradle attachment in bright red.

More soon...

1:72 MPM Fw 189 C/V-6

Luftwaffe enthusiasts spend a lot of their time (I would imagine) lauding the brilliant designs and innovative engineering of much of the Third Reich's aeronautical output. Only there were a lot of 'duds' among them. And, despite the fearsome MPM box-top art, the Fw 189 C/V-6 was just one of these.

First flown in early 1940 the C/V-6 was the 'ground-attack' variant of the Fw 189 with the original fuselage nacelle replaced with an armour-plated 'nacelle-type' structure for a pilot and rear gunner. Both crew members had strictly limited views outside of the machine. The aircraft was powered by two Argus inverted V-12's of around 460 hp each. By way of comparison, the Hs 129 had two 691 hp Gnome-Rhone engines, while on the Allied side, for example, the Bristol Beaufighter and Douglas A-20 both had twin engines of 1600 hp. That the Germans would design aircraft around the Argus V-12s and French-made Gnome-Rhone radials obviously indicates the limitations of their aircraft engine production. The Germans did not have high-horsepower engines available in the quantities the Allies could produce. The smaller engines resulted in severely under-powered machines but did at least have the advantage of being of small profile. The Germans did of course have warehouses full of captured engine stocks that they wanted to use, some obviously state-of-the-art… in 1937. This resulted in many unsupportable design compromises..

The Fw 189 C/V-6 was entered into the competition for a new ground-attack/close-support aircraft that the Henschel Hs129 eventually won, the unconventional Blohm-und-Voss Bv 141 having already been eliminated due to its unproven asymmetrical form. Two prototypes of the -C were manufactured for testing, the V-1b and the V-6. The V-6 was designed to be armed with two MG FF 20mm cannon and four MG 17's firing forward and a twin MG 81Z for the rear gunner. The rear armament was optimistic at best given the gunner's restricted field of vision, especially when compared to the original Fw 189.

The kit was a straight forward build albeit rather lacking in detail - no gun barrels (I used Master), no bombs or racks - which I intend adding from an old Airfix Fw 190 kit. And the glazed parts of the cabin - except for the windscreen- were solid and had to be cut out.  The best part of the build for me was exhuming some old unused Aeromaster 'Warbirds' acrylics from the back of the paint 'stash' which I used for the 70/71 segmented finish - they went on beautifully, despite being, what, 30-40 years old?! Whatever happened to these paints and why has no-one kept the formula in production?

Build review of the Airfix 1:48th Jaguar - part 7 Finished!

 

The Airfix 1:48th Jaguar  is now finished in the markings of XZ 118 'Buster Gonad'. Difficult to photograph in this 'Granby' scheme as the flash obliterates the oil panel-line wash and the little bit of post-shading with Tamiya Smoke. Note that Airfix has given the modeller a bit of a 'mish-mash' with this machine as it wore a variety of markings and was seen in a number of different configurations especially post-Granby eg, the "FF" tail codes which are not present on the kit decal sheet  - although indicated on the decal placement diagram. While with 41 Sqd, XZ 118 also carried the recce pod in grey/green which I thought offered a neat contrast with the RAF Desert Pink (AK Real Colors lacquer). XZ 118 was the aircraft that ended its life upside down in the Tate Gallery..

Overall, a great kit, although the undercarriage is a little tricky and fitting the parts in and around the airbrake bays requires three hands. Some additional detail could have been provided in the cockpit perhaps. But then we modellers always seem to want more. A very good 9/10 from me.

East Kent Scale modellers at SMW 2025 Telford - IPMS East Kent

 

Difficult to know what to show from the show - so in the end I have decided to just show you the IPMS East Kent stand. This is my local club, now a fully-fledged IPMS affiliate. East Kent Scale modellers meet on the second Tuesday of every month at the RAF Manston History museum...

A look in the box - Airfix new-tool superkit Bf 109 G-6 unveiled at SMW Telford (2025)

 

Gary from 'Gary's Stuff' dives into the box and shows us some of the plastic along with a detailed overview of the instruction manual  - this is the new-tool Airfix Bf 109 G-6 unveiled at SMW 2025. There is more on this kit on my 'FalkeEins -Luftwaffe blog' with photos of the 'real' airframe but when the model arrives I shall most likely build it here. A single click on the 'red triangle' to view here..

Also announced at Telford SMW 2025 was a new Kotare Emil in 32nd and Revell have added some new parts to their 32nd Me 262 for the 'one-off' 'Pulk' destroyer variant of the Me 262. Designed by Radi Brinzan - responsible for the Kotare K-4- the Kotare Emil was 'lidar-ed' from the Bf 109 E at RAF Hendon and is due out in Q2-A3 of 2026.

Building the Airfix Sepecat Jaguar in 1/48th (part 6)

 

Finished painting except for one or two details. Discovered AK Real colors (laquer) after selecting their 'RAF Desert Pink'.  These are fantastic - with a little Mr Color Levelling Thinner easily the best spray finish I've ever achieved, probably the most 'in control' of the airbrush that I've ever felt. Getting some more !

Meanwhile, as I slowly complete my first, Mr. Bill Clark of our club has completed two, both of which will be on the Jag-Uhar SIG table at this weekend's SMW 2025 in Telford.

A few close-up views of Bill's model of  XZ 375 as seen at a recent East Kent Scale Modeller's  club night..

new-tool Airfix Wessex HC 2 in 1/72 -what a disappointment!

 

Disappointed is not the word. No, not the kit. I bought two of them - but in each of the two boxes there was an entire sprue missing!In each case Sprue B -floor seats etc was missing. Both boxes had two 'D' sprues, making the kits unbuildable. A £23 kit that can't be built. Fuming. Following straight on from the Jaguar fiasco (Vintage Classic - wrong kit in the box) it would seem that quality control issues are back with a vengeance for Hornby/Airfix. Both the Wessex kits were in sealed bags inside sealed boxes! For no purpose whatsoever. Well I've contacted customer services, got an automated response (!) and am frankly not hopeful of a quick or satisfactory outcome. They never (ever) came through on the Blenheim (missing canopy part). Simon on britmodeller who lives in Australia was kind enough to come up with a replacment Blenheim part! And its not just the Wessex of the recent Airfix releases. As Thomas on the ATF said, some modellers were missing the clear sprue from the Stalwart. He was missing 'only' the tailgate. It came after about two weeks once there were spare Stalwarts to part from. A single piece missing I might have been able to cope. But we're talking a whole sprue here. And no, it wasn't just a one off, two boxes with the same defect. Is the reputational 'hit' worth the price of using cheap foreign labour? DaveCov on the ATF; 

 " I have just inspected my Wessex boxing. It is the same batch number as that posted by FalkeEins. With trepidation, I opened the sealed bag and looked through the frames. Thankfully, Frame B was there..." 

 Airfix spares have subsequently responded to my rather angry email with their standard automated response; - they will sort and send spare parts - if available - within 21 days. They don't say what will happen if no spares are available. Nor did they apologise for putting out dud kits. - the retailer (RAF Manston History museum shop) has emailed and offered to let me exchange my defective kit for another on the shelf..

Below; latest Airfix release is the Wessex HC.2 in 1/72nd. Trouble is, one of the five main sprues was not in the box, while there were two 'D' sprues..

Building the Airfix Sepecat Jaguar in 1/48th (part 5) - reference pics of the gear bays and legs

 Finished painting the airframe.

'Black-basing' the airframe prior to application of the AK Real colors 'Desert Pink'  proved to be a complete waste of time. I was very impressed though with the AK paint and used in conjunction with 'Mr Color Levelling Thinner' proved to be a revelation..(..to me at least..)

Next; dealing with the gear bays and undercarriage. Assembling the legs can be pretty tricky at first sight. Note the 'ring-like' attachment point on the long inner strut is canted. Make sure you position it the correct way round otherwise it will bow just like it does on Gary's build! And a shout-out to the model channel 'Hobby Wan Kenobi' or whatever it is he calls himself - why on earth do all that masking around the gear bays? Paint the bays and then use the kit gear doors to 'mask' them by just positioning them in place closed up.

Close up of the gear legs on the Manston example, and, bottom, detail views of the gear bays. Airfix's colour call-out for the legs - Humbrol 27 - is rather too dark in my view. Overall though Airfix have done a fantastic job on this part of the kit.

Port main gear bay looking towards the rear of the aircraft and, bottom, looking directly into the starboard bay. Note inner faces of the main gear doors are not in zinc chromate..