Finnish B-239 Buffalo from the 'classic' Airfix 72nd kit

 

The ancient 1:72 Airfix Buffalo is a poor kit. Turning it into a Finnish machine is to be honest a bit of a pointless exercise - everything needs work. But then again, everything needs work anyway. Here I've built up the cowl - drilling out the cooling apertures and relocating the MGs to those little bulges on the top - lengthened the forward fuselage with card and putty by several mms, revamped the cockpit with an instrument panel and head/back armour and substituted the propeller for an item out of the spares box that actually looked like it might have belonged on an aeroplane! The opening canopy section had to be 'plunge-moulded' to actually get something to fit in the open position and I used decal strip for the framing. The raised detail was sanded down and a bit of rescribing undertaken - not my favourite task.The lumps of plastic that pass for exhausts on the kit were removed and replacements installed on the bottom of the cowl. The tail wheel was replaced with something from the spares box. Decals came from an old Colarado sheet. Just to make things worse I used Humbrol 24 for the yellow Eastern Front theatre markings - and it refused to dry! Still to add the pitot but this one is done..

Boeing P-8 Poseidon - Walkaround at Le Bourget - Academy 1:144

recent builds of the Academy Poseidon in 1:144 by Thomas, Steve and Stu. US Navy  P-8 "759" photographed by this blogger at Le Bourget, Paris in June 2025 where it was on static display.

text based on Des Brennan's "Poseidon - both hunter and hunted" in SAM Vol 45/4

The Boeing P-8 is a multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defence, Space and Security, and derived from the civilian Boeing 737-800. Developed for the United States Navy the type flies anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,and search and rescue missions. On 20 July 2007, the Australian Minister for Defence announced that the P-8A was the preferred aircraft to replace the Royal Australian Air Force fleet of Lockheed AP-3C Orions, followed by the United Kingdom in 2012, Norway in 2014, then New Zealand, South Korea, and Germany. 

Poseidon MRA.1 ZP805/05/Fulmar (the Naval Air Station name for Lossiemouth prior to it becoming an RAF base) operated by a crew from No.120 Squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth drops a torpedo (recoverable exercise variant of the Mk 54) over the Moray Firth in July 2021. The rear fuselage weapons bay doors are still open, the forward fuselage FLIR ball is lowered, and no wing pylons are fitted. (Cpl. Adam Fletcher Open Government Licence) 

Poseidon P-8A YD/755 (168755) of Patrol Squadron VP-4 ‘The Skinny Dragons’ overhead Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, in February 2020 during Exercise Dynamic Mantra 2020. This gives a good view of the various aerials and sensors under the aircraft, the inboard wing mounted weapons pylon, and the mounting plinth for the outer as well as the location of the weapons bay aft of the wing. (US Navy photo)

The US Navy has 133 P-8s in service. With a six-screen glass cockpit the P-8 is operated by two pilots on the flight deck with another seven members of the crew operating the mission systems from consoles in the cabin, of which originally five but later upgraded to seven can be installed. The P-8’s maximum speed is 490 knots/564mph (908 kph), it has a service ceiling of 41,000 ft (12,500m), and an unrefuelled range of 4,500 miles (7250 km). Endurance is around ten hours but this can be doubled with air-to-air refuelling (AAR) although unusually for a US Navy aircraft (and for some of those current users who practice that art) only the flying boom method is provided for, as opposed to their long-standard use of the probe-and-drogue method.

The UK ordered 9 examples of the P-8 in 2019 with deliveries beginning in early 2020 and completed two years later although in the past year RAF sources have commented on the need for a further three aircraft to meet changed threat levels. Aircraft are operated on a pooled basis from RAF Lossiemouth by Nos.120 and 201 Squadrons with training conducted by No.54 Squadron’s Poseidon Flight

Note Steve's build of RAF Poseidon  ZP 804 "04" (below) has Harpoons installed on the wing pylons.

Model build below by Stu Davies

DBMK 1:32 Hornet Mk. 3 - built up and on the table at IPMS East Kent club night last week

 

I just came across Brett Green's video 'unboxing' of the DBMK 1:32 Hornet - see below. A single click to watch without leaving this page. Here in deepest Kent we've already had the chance to build this kit and present the finished model to the club last week at our model club night. Built by Mr Bill Clark this will no doubt also be appearing in a forthcoming issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling. The parts are smooth and feature some finely recessed panel lines - the Hornet was a wooden machine like the Mosquito. The kit includes a separate box of 3D printed parts supplied by Scalex in the Ukraine - these include pilot's seat, gun sight and hollowed-out exhausts. The kit also features ordnance such as 1000 lb bombs along with rockets.Please note that this model is genuinely limited run, with the likely maximum available being 1,250 units - if you want one, get in quick!

Phantom February @ IPMS East Kent

 

The theme for February's model club meet was Phantoms! Here's a few views of the table with Tamiya, ZM, Hasegawa/Revell, Esci and Academy F-4s in 48th and Airfix and Fujimi F-4s in 72nd. 

uploading your model photos to ChatGPT to create AI-generated backgrounds..(3)

 Tamiya Kubelwagen and Sdkfz model diorama by Ade Smith of SMMS. AI image by FalkeEins

John's dusty Tamiya Leclerc and seen in Lebanon on peace-keeping duties. Model by East Kent Scale Modeller (IPMS East Kent) and AI images by FalkeEins.

Above;  Dave's Revell/Hasegawa 1:48 FGR 2

Stu's Academy P-8 in 1:144th, and although there are no RAF markings in the kit, this US Navy machine is seen landing at RAF Lossiemouth in my AI image.

Jonty's 1:72 Airfix Zero and seen at sea on a carrier early in 1942. AI has not done a good job of the nose the tail or the canopy but the seascape is quite nice...

1:32nd Special Hobby Bloch MB. 152 built by French modeller Marcel Decarne and finished in the markings of the leading ace on the type Sous Lieutenant Robert Thollon of GC I/8 who achieved around 8 victories. After the armistice Thollon accepted a training post in the Vichy Air Force while running a clandestine resistance organisation. He died in the 1940s in a skiing accident.

my 1:48th Eduard Triplane seen on an airfield somewhere in northern France during 1918 and the image that was uploaded to ChatGPT to create this scene.

Airfix 1:72 Harrier GR. 1 in a forest clearing with camo netting on deployment.

 

My 1:72 Italeri DC-3 in French markings. Seen unloading supplies at Dien Bien Phu during 1954..

Below; 2nd Air Commando Group P-51 rocket-launcher from the Airfix 1:48th kit seen on a jungle airfield somewhere in Burma. Model and AI image by this blog. The 2nd Air Commando was a specialized United States Army Air Forces unit activated in April 1944 for unconventional warfare in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II. Equipped with P-51, C-47, and L-5 aircraft, the unit was designed to provide air support for ground-based commando operations. It was a vital component of the Allied air campaign.

uploading your model photos to ChatGPT to create AI-generated backgrounds..(2) some 'snow' scenes

Excellent Giampiero Piva Hs 123 served as my 'base' for this snow scene. I have still to work out how to do a scene with German WWII markings on display so its 'safer' to tell the app to 'obscure' them ..