K5054NZ

I may not comment with each update, but I do read and enjoy them! I really appreciate all the extra detail going into this one.

Hi everyone, This may be a super long shot but, given Heller can’t help, I thought I’d hit up my regular hang-outs! A friend sent me a Heller 1/50 JetRanger I’m dying to build but a few vital parts are missing: 37, 39, 40, 41 and 42. If you can help at all - and are happy to donate any of these parts or accept an IOU as I’m not in a position to pay any time soon - please get in touch!

Rather late bump! For some time Scalemates has listed this 1/48 206L-1 set by Top Gun Models. I asked for availability info on Top Gun's Facebook page and they got back to me about half an hour ago: There may yet be hope for 407 fans!

Bump! For some time Scalemates has listed this 1/48 206L-1 set by Top Gun Models. I asked for availability info on Top Gun's Facebook page and they got back to me about half an hour ago:

Bump! Italeri has put up its Preview 2020: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/b9oyS352gqHmhEzkjSqwDK80IVvs09sLuqzoPqmR.pdf For the third(fourth?) year in a row the 1/48 Agusta-Bell JetRanger repop is there, product code 277, blatantly plastered all over page 8: Italeri Preview 2020 pg8 by Zac Yates, on Flickr Still waiting - progressively less patiently - for it to actually appear... Although my (first?) copy of the JetRanger kit will need custom decals, it's encouraging to see the label for a Super Decal sheet on the catalogue listing. The thing that I really, really wish and hope they fix is the height of the rotor mast as we discussed previously.

Sign me up for a -9! Such wonderful memories of our encounters over the years... friDSC_0082 by Zac Yates, on Flickr friDSC_0050 by Zac Yates, on Flickr satDSC_0694 by Zac Yates, on Flickr sunDSC_0578 by Zac Yates, on Flickr sunDSC_0573 by Zac Yates, on Flickr sunDSC_0663 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Hi all, I'll be honest and up-front. The past few months have been extremely hard for my wife and I. She has been out of work for some time and I was laid off thanks to a downsizing in September, and the job market here isn't great. We're getting help from the government but we're barely scraping by. I've also been dealing with some personal health issues and working at The Bench has been wonderful therapy. It keeps me positive and my wife has said several times she hasn't seen me so happy in a long time. Of course, I can't even afford replacement glue and paint let alone kits to help with this wonderful therapy. Therefore I'm shamelessly asking if anyone has any of the below kits they'd be willing to send me to help boost my stash and keep me out of mischief, knowing I can't afford to pay with anything but gratitude and a thank you in the build post. I know it's more than a little greedy, perhaps entitled, but I would be eternally grateful to anyone who was able to help me out. (If this post is out of line then Mods, please do what you need to and let me know by PM.) 1/72 Amodel Sukhoi Su-26M Hasegawa RAAF F-111C or F-111C/G High Planes Models CAC CA-27 Avon Sabre Hasegawa or Tamiya A6M3 Type 22 Zero Airfix new-tool Harrier GR.3 Grumman HU-16 Albatross AZ Model OH-6A Cayuse Matchbox Meteor T-6/SNJ/Harvard (not Hawk/Testors please) new-tool Airfix Spitfire Mk.I/IIa Airfix Short Sunderland Matchbox/Revell Wessex Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant 1/48 Bell UH-1D or UH-1H Iroquois/Huey ERTL/ESCI/Italeri Bell JetRanger Fujimi Bell OH-58A Kiowa or Bell JetRanger Tamiya Hughes 500/OH-6a 1/144 and misc A-4 Skyhawks Platz T-6 Texans Convair CV-440, CV-580 1/100 Bell UH-1H Huey 1/100 Sikorsky UH-60A Blackhawk 1/35 Tamiya M5A1 Stuart Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know I haven't been a very active member here over the years but I will rectify that in the coming weeks with a catch-up of my recent activities. 🙂

PM inbound, thanks Dutch 🙂

Hi all, Starfix 1/175 Le vol du Phénix by Zac Yates, on Flickr Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas from Le vol du Phénix (1968 French remake of The Flight of the Phoenix set in Algeria) by Zac Yates, on Flickr Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas from Le vol du Phénix (1968 French remake of The Flight of the Phoenix set in Algeria) by Zac Yates, on Flickr Okay, hang on, let me explain.... The year is 1968. Gaumont has bought the overseas rights for Elleston Trevor's bestselling novel about an oil company aircraft crashing in the desert and being reconstructed to fly the desperate survivors back to civilisation. Director Robert Moreau assisted in adapting the script into French and changing the setting from the Libyan Sahara to Algeria during the war there (although production took place in Spain) and keeping the novel's original conceit of the English aero engineer being a modelmaker (from a thinly-veiled version of real-world model kit company Airfix named "Skybits"). An all-star cast was assembled: Capitaine Francois Villes - Jacques Stuart Lieutenant Louis Morant - Richard Fortabitant Capitaine Herrice - Pierre Bouvreuil Sergent Wautier - Renaud Freseau Henry Stringer - Francis Gastwort Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas from Le vol du Phénix (1968 French remake of The Flight of the Phoenix set in Algeria) by Zac Yates, on Flickr The fictional Skytruck twin-boom aircraft of Trevor's novel, represented by a Fairchild C-82 Packet in the American film version, was replaced by a Nord Noratlas of the Armée de l'Air. The Phenix itself was built from Noratlas parts supplied by the air force however, unlike the purpose-built (and ill-fated) Phoenix created and flown by Paul Mantz for the American production, it only taxied. The flying scenes were filmed using radio-controlled and scale studio models. Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas from Le vol du Phénix (1968 French remake of The Flight of the Phoenix set in Algeria) by Zac Yates, on Flickr The film, titled Le vol du Phénix, was a financial and critical success in France and remains a cult classic among aviation enthusiasts worldwide. The Phenix prop did not survive long after filming, being reclaimed by the French air force to provide spares for the Noratlas fleet. Some filming models did survive and one large-scale model is on display at the Musée de l'air et de l'espace at Le Bourget next to that collection's preserved Noratlas. Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas from Le vol du Phénix (1968 French remake of The Flight of the Phoenix set in Algeria) by Zac Yates, on Flickr ***** This is my second-ever Starfix kit and, to be honest, I'd quite like some more! This was a gift from a member of another site in answer to my request for therapy kits and had been on my wants list for some time, unless the Heller kit popped up first. The box is a little worse for wear but everything's there: Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas by Zac Yates, on Flickr Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas by Zac Yates, on Flickr Starfix 1/175 Nord Noratlas by Zac Yates, on Flickr I don't have any in-progress shots because it went together very, very quickly and I was just having too much fun! For those who can't tell, the process was: - cement both inner boom halves together so you can mount the horizontal stabilisers, which you cut in half from the single piece original - saw the port wing off at the outer side of that side's boom/engine the the starboard wing at its inner, cement together - cement wing to fuselage - attach the rather nasty gear doors into closed position - drill out a "cockpit" behind the engine - attach the kit's main gear to the wing and the nosewheel to a cutout of the lower vertical stabiliser - find a nice pole (oo-er) to attach aft of the cockpit and rig with elastic thread of your choice C'est voila! Le Phenix! (As it happens I have a plan for the rest of the kit. I may even get started with it today....) Amazingly the decals still work, but the roundels were too far out of register to use (so I cobbled together spares). I did use the kit's finflashes though. The FNX codes are from a Ventura 1/48 sheet of 8" RAF WW2 serials and the name was artfully handpainted. I know the original movie used the clever conceit of oil rig supplies to make skids, and the 2004 film used the main gear in another way, but while I contemplated leaving the one main gear in place and having some kind of lopsided arrangement with the second leg I thought this approach worked best with the bits I had...even if it means the survivors would have to do a bit of work to get them both in place! I hope you like it!

Thanks Glynn, your help is very much appreciated! @Dutch - have you had any luck tracking down the Fokker markings?

Thanks Glynn, much appreciated! Likewise @Dutch!

Hi team, I’m on the hunt for a few parts and decals for several projects. I’m afraid I cannot offer payment except for heartfelt gratitude and a credit in the build post. PARTS - spare (or if you can make copies of?) engine nacelles from a 1/72 Fokker Friendship or other Rolls-Royce Dart-powered machine, and a pair of props - 1/72 Hawker Typhoon three-bladed propeller and spinner - two 1/72 Bristol Freighter propeller and spinner combos - 1/72 Fairey Firefly Mk.V prop and spinner combos and tailhooks from any Firefly variant - Hobbycraft 1/48 DHC-3 Otter propeller - 1/48 Arado Ar196 spinner - 1/72 Spitfire PR.ID/PR.IV windscreen and canopy - 1/72 Gloster Meteor F.8 windscreen and canopy - 1/72 A6M3 Type 22 Zero cowling - 1/72 ESCI/etc AV-8A windscreen and canopy 1/72 DECALS - B-34/PV-1 Ventura in RAAF Service DK Decals No. 72047 - hi-viz 1980s RAAF F/A-18 from 3Sqn (Hawkeye Decals AAF-004 would be ideal) - NZ Warbirds Association’s ZK-DAK from the Flying Kiwis Italeri rebox - Airfix RNZAF DH Vampire - Dutch air force Fokker D.XXI with triangle roundels - Vietnam People’s Air Force Yak-52, or just VPAF roundels that would fit a 1/72 Yak - stencils, walkways, warnings etc for a Gloster Meteor F.8 - Spitfire prototype K5054 1/48 DECALS - RNZAF A-4K Skyhawk, blue-red roundels, finflashes and stencils; and the low-viz roundels and stencils 1/144 DECALS - Hawkeye Models RNZAF Boeing 757-200 I’d love to hear from you if you can help 🙂

Thank you gents, that's some very helpful information! As I said if it doesn't have Speys I've never looked at buying it, so I appreciate the help. I'm in New Zealand so that makes the recent Academy offering a better option for me price-wise - over at Britmodeller it's been suggested to me several times as a good option - although I'll start looking at that and the Monogram kit in its various forms.. When looking for reference photos of Beaulier's aircraft all I found were profiles and decal sheets so I figured there would be options available. The only issue will be what I can justify paying when i only need the one option!

Hi all, After listening to an interview with the pilot I'm struck by a desire to build F-4J BuNo 155875/NK 201 “Dakota 201” of VF-142, as it was on March 28 1970 when LT Jerome Eugene (Jerry) Beaulier and LT Stephen John Barkley shot down a North Vietnamese MiG-21. Unfortunately when it comes to non-UK variants of the Phantom I'm clueless. What is the best option in 1/72 for this aircraft in terms of accuracy and price? Is there one that comes with these markings so I don't need to shell out for an aftermarket sheet? I'd be grateful for any advice!

Well I think it's beautiful! What a stunning finish!