Stunning new Tooby Airfix artwork and reactivating a couple of part-started builds, Revell Corsair, Airfix Fw 190, Academy Bf 109 G-14 in 72nd

nice day in the garden again ..and clearing some more part-started builds from the bench hopefully. I'm not that keen on reactivating part-started builds to be honest - I find that working up enthusiasm for them is hard work, but as it's a nice day and I'm on nights later on I'm just looking for something to fettle and tinker with in the sunshine...mind you if I can finish these this month, that will be a record five completions for the month! The Airfix Fw 190 I'm building as a night fighting 'Porcupine' of JG 300 - just adding some wire antennae having drilled out some holes on the wings and fuselage. The Academy G-14 to be finished as Hartmann's JG 53 Kommandeur machine should be a G-6...

Fantastic RIAT - Royal International Air Tattoo, RAF Fairford, England 6-10 July

See my 'Jet & Prop' blog for some coverage of this fantastic air show, featuring a variety of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and fifth generation fighter aircraft all on the same airfield - the past, present and future of air combat...links on the side panel

Zvezda Junkers Ju 88 G-6 in 72nd scale (4)

Two completions inside a week. Well its been a few months since I was last able to get to a club meeting and since I knew I was going to be able to go to July's I was very keen to take along something new. This is my Zvezda Junkers Ju 88 G-6 night fighter in 72nd scale with the addition of resin Jumo engines, exhausts and spinners from AIMS. The engines feature finer detail and perfectly engraved supercharger intakes. I have built this model as a representation of Eduard Lindinger's machine -see below.

Below; seen here after an undercarriage malfunction on landing at Lueneberg in early 1945 this is 'C9+ET' flown by Ofw. Eduard Lindinger of NJG 5. This 9. Staffel machine is fitted with a 'shortened' 2cm SM installation and single MG 131. Note the cabin roof-mounted Naxos - and the re-located upward-firing SM installation. And I can see now that I've missed the 'old-style' solid fuselage Balkenkreuz. Wasn't expecting that on a late-war G-6!

Lindinger was awarded the Ritterkreuz for 300+ sorties in KG 1 but enjoyed a singular lack of success as a night fighter - he returned no night victories while in III./NJG 5. Lindinger died on 1 September 2004.

..and, below, on the club table for the July meet...

Airfix new-tool Junkers Ju 87 B-1 Stuka - in-box build review finished (2)

My completed new-tool Airfix Junkers Ju 87 B-1 in 72nd scale finished in the new Humbrol Luftwaffe enamels in the markings of a StG 51 machine. A nice simple build and finish. Looks a little 'toy-like' to me, perhaps those over scale panel lines on the wings don't help. No swastikas on the decal sheet. Some of the smaller parts are impossible to get off the sprues without breaking them, especially the bomb 'sling'..

And a link to the Academy and Italeri 72nd scale Stukas on this blog here

Airfix new-tool Junkers Ju 87 B-1 Stuka - in-box build review

A few views of my new-tool Airfix Stuka B-1 build in 72nd. The kit is very neatly molded and assembles easily enough. A relatively trouble-free, if not to say painless build! The cockpit is a little sparse on detail - certainly not as good as Academy's Ju 87 G-2 in this scale - and the 'one-piece' span length aileron/flaps are a little inaccurate and tricky to line-up and probably need glueing in two stages. Just the decals and a few finishing touches to go..

Zvezda Junkers Ju 88 G-6 in 72nd scale (3)

..progress on the Zvezda Junkers Ju 88 G-6. Two months since my last update, but some work has been done - and  that's a new-tool Airfix Ju 87 B-1 also in the picture..more soon