Agape forum member Drew Hatch (DrewH) shared this great looking build he titled “Phantom Phodder”. It looks great Drew! Now you just need to follow up with a Phantom!

Well – I gave up on the Alclad Airframe Aluminum. After another attempt to ‘fix’ the varied tone, the finish came off with an oil wash. This was getting old fast!.

I went to the old stand by – Alclad Duraluminum. It has the finish look I like.  All 8 decals were a cinch! Gotta luv that. For fears (even though I have used oil washes over this before with great success – the chicken came out in me) of a repeat mistaken strip job, I used a sluge wash of india ink.

Not much to this build but I’m glad to finally have it off the bench and on the shelf. No winner, seam issues here and there and a few ‘lazy’ resribes that are pretty noticeable.

This is not a kit you see very often. Agape forum member Rex (airrex) did a great job on this kit. It looks ready to go Mach 3!

With great joy I have finished! The Dragon/CyberHobby 1/200 XB-70A. It is a good kit with only a couple of easily correctable problems. I can recommend this kit for sure. I do wish they would have done it in 1/144, but it appears we will be getting more and more kits in this scale. Very nice tiny panel lines that look good even in this scale.

Here is part two of Dale “Hutch” Hutchinson’s dual Trumpeter F-100 build. You can see his F-100D here. Great work Hutch!

Here are the pics I promised for the completed F-100F Trumpeter 1:48.  Same comments I made about the D apply here.  It was a fun build…  I did Eduard PE in the pit as well as Legend AM seats.

This aircraft is the one Gabreski flew as part of the 354th TFW, Myrtle Beach, SC, 1959.  Decals were from SuperScale and they went down as flawlessy as the AeroMaster decals for the D.

Again, Alclad was used for the NMF.

Forum member Dale “Hutch” Hutchinson recently completed a dual-build of Trumpter’s 1/48 F-100D and F-100F. Today we get to enjoy the D model. Great work on this Hutch!

Check back Friday for the F model!

I’ve completed my dual F-100 build…the first offering for your viewing pleasure is my F-100D.  It is the 1:48 Trumpeter offering and I found it quite a pleasure to build.  It has Eduard PE in the cockpit and a Legend Seat.  I am not a rivet counter, so I ignored the nit accuracy issues…looks good to me.  Only glaring miss by Trumpeter was providing the wrong afterburner nozzle.  Other than that, this is an outstanding kit.

The representation are from AeroMaster of the 20 TFW 55 TFS in RAF Wethersfield, UK, 1958.  The decals were perfect.  They were nice and thin and melted into the surface with some Solvaset…very nice.

This build was made specifically for a friend that requested a D with a Bullpup and some AIM-9s.  I pulled the Bullpup out of leftovers from a previous Revell build…

The NMF was Alclad…I really like this stuff.  But the accents are really brought out by Tamiya Smoke.

Ross shared this awesome looking TBF he recently completed. Excellent work!

Blues and IG are enamels or tailored mixes. The interior is rattle can auto lacquer, yellow and black mixed to look about right, over the base enamel Hu 75 for Bronze Green (lightened it a bit much so it looks more ZCG), RAF IG and Hu 151 IG (disc. range).

Exterior colors:
ANA607  N.S. Sea Blue – Hu25 gloss black base coat 4:1, then lightened with light grey or white in various ratios for variations. ANA 608 N.S. Int Blue – Hu 96 RAF Blue and white, base of 4:1 then lightened for fading effex. Insignia Blue by MM, tinted w/ Hu15 MIdnight Blue about 8:1. It helps the IB stand out a lite from the topsides. White is mostly auto rattle can and Tamiya. Artist’s acrylic black and brown/black for panel line washes, white and light grey for fasteners, sliver ink  pen for chipping. Chalk pastels for further weathering, grunge, exhausts. L/e light is a punched disc of thin ali. Really looks the part and I dunno why I don’t do it more often.

The general idea was to produce a moderate level of weathering without ‘going disco’ on it.

Scratch harness front and rear. Fuz windows were epoxied, filed, puttied, sanded and polished. Tape masks of circle and strip. Wings were primed and outers base-coated w/ white. Tape masks were measured to fit for the bars, and circles cut to mask the roundel area. I’d rather mask off areas for roundels to avoid unnecessary paint build-up. I categorically refuse to put light blue roundels on RNZAF a/c. They’re outright unconscionable, apocryphal and based upon skewed interpretation of colours from faded machines in disposal areas.   Roundels are from Miracle Masks, custom dimensions reduced slightly from the kit decals to better suit references that show smaller circles. Fuselage roundels are kit decals, the light blue centre was masked and re-painted.

If I’ve learned one thing by reading modeling related forums, it would have to be “don’t believe everything you read about any kit until you’ve held the plastic in your hands.” This has proven to be especially true when it comes to Hobbycraft kits.

If you solely base your opinion on modeling forums, you’d come away thinking Hobbycraft kits are simply awful. I’ve read them referred to as “Hobbycrap”. One poster called their models “laughable”. Another simply said “they’re not worth the time, effort or money.”

Funny, I actually had a chance to email one of those folks (on another subject), and when I asked for some clarification on what they thought of a particular kit from Hobbycraft (assuming by their description they’d owned the kit, or perhaps even built it), they replied they’d never actually seen the kit. Just read about it.

So it was with great joy I received Hobbycraft’s 1/48 Hurricance Mk. II “Night Intruder” boxing. My friend Wayne Dippold had picked it up for me at a model sale a while back. I’m always one to look for a bargain, especially with kits that I’ve read folks talk ill about. It’s a lot of fun to build them and actually enjoy them.

And enjoy this Hurricane build I did! Read the rest of this entry »

One of the things I like about P-40s is the great variety in types and color schemes that are available. Whether it’s the early “shark-nosed” Tomahawks, the early short-tailed versions, the Merlin-engined variants, or the long-tailed versions, modeling the P-40 offers a wide variety of choices.

None seems to be so distinctive in my mind though as the early P-40K “big-tail” version. Earlier P-40s had issues with directional stability, so a fin filet was added late the E model production run to address this, and it carried over through the -5 block of the K variant. The K-10 adopted the longer fuselage most associated with the L,M and N models. In fact, many times in looking at historical photographs it can be hard to tell the later K models from the M model, as externally they were just about identical. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not sure why the Vb version of the Spitfire gets most of the attention when it comes to the Mk. V series. Certainly there weren’t a lot of Va models built, and making that conversion is really fairly simple with any Ia or IIa kit. But the differences in the b and c wing are significant enough that simply adding a little cannon stub for the c wing doesn’t quite do it.

Both Tamiya and Hasegawa make their Mk. V models with the b wing. Airfix’s older Mk. V was also a b, though they’ve since added a c wing in the kit, too. (Although it makes for a slightly odd mix, with a fuselage with raised panel lines, and a wing with recessed.) Classic Airframes did release a Vc version, though it is a bit of a challenge to build.

I had several sets of Vc markings in the decal stash, and I really wanted to put them on the Tamiya Mk. V kit, as it’s a jewl of a kit that is pure joy to build. So I was considering how I could best convert the wing.

Until my friend Mike Grant came to the rescue. He happened to ask me “would you be interested in a resin Montex Vc wing?” Did Gilligan want to get rescued? I threw out thoughts of converting the kit wing! Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Mason (amason61) has shared another one of his fabulous jet builds with us. Thanks so much Andy- it looks great!

Kit manufacture: Tamiya
Scale: 1/48
Type:  F-16C/N
Extras used: Steel Beach FOD covers, TwoBobs decals, CrossDelta scab plates
Paints and colours used: Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black, MM grays

Adam Coleman, a friend I know through IPMS, emailed me this very interesting bit of modeling history, along with photos of his great work on this aircraft. I’ll admit I’d never actually heard about this particular one, so it’s interesting to learn something new through the hobby. Thanks for sharing this with us Adam!

Just finished today is my Hungarian MÁVAG Héja II (“Goshawk”) of the Royal Hungarian Air Force ca.1944. This is marked up and intended to depict a mid-production machine V5+42 based at Matyasfeld, near Budapest. The kit is the Legato release in 1/72 scale from 2005 which apparently can make either the Heja I or Heja II.

The Héja I was a Hungarian fighter aircraft copy of the Italian Reggiane Re 2000.  Following licensing issues with the Italians, the new Héja II (as shown below) was entirely Hungarian built with locally produced airframes, engines and armament. The new fighter differed from the Heja I in a number of ways. Armament was changed to two fixed forward-firing 12.7 mm (0.50 inch)Gebauer guns with 300 rounds in the fuselage nose. Flight endurance was about 2.5 hours. The first MÁVAG Héja II took to the air on 30 October 1942, and in total, MÁVAG built around 70 Héja II’s, all for the Royal Hungarian Air Force. The last aircraft was completed on 1 August 1944 when production ceased. These were primarily used as fighter trainers.

This model is not for beginners!  It is a short run kit with resin and photo etch parts as well as vacuformed canopies.  It requires patience and a knack for understanding dubiously unclear instructions. The kit was not easy, but however I also chose it to give my brand new new Grex airbrush a workout. Replicating the paint scheme was especially fun, and I also enjoyed the research side of this project as well. None survive today, so please enjoy the rare and seldom seen little Héja!

Photo courtesy Mark Büchler

Many folks may know Mark Büchler as “Modelnerd” on various model related forums. A few may remember the super-impressive scratch built cockpit and other additions he did a few years ago for Lindberg’s Goshawk kit that was posted on Fine Scale’s forum. He did an awesome job on that, and decided to make resin copies. He sold a few of those, and decided to do more resin. An upgrade for the Hobbycraft/Academy I-16 followed (which I used in a build and quite enjoyed), as well as an engine/cowl set for Revell’s P-61.

Now Mark has re-done his Goshawk set, adding in some additional parts. The sets are available in a limited quantity, so if you’ve ever considered building Lindberg’s Goshawk, you might want to snag one of these really quick. Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout history, many good men have given their lives for others. Only one, though, has given His life, and then came out of the grave to triumph over death itself.

When Jesus died on the cross, it was to pay the price for the sins of the world. His love was shown at the cross. But it is in His resurrection that we have life, an new life in Him!

When Christ walked out of that grave, it was a triumph of many sorts. A triumph over death, over sin. Over those who doubted Who He was. It was the most astounding act anyone had seen… even death could not hold Him down!

And when we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, being forgiven of our sins by His work on the cross, His work alone, we are saved for a purpose. Life in Christ is not just fire insurance. It is a call to serve, to serve a risen Savior, Who has a purpose for all of our lives, a purpose to God’s glory. And while how that purpose may manifest itself in each of our lives may be very different, the focus is singular- to share the Good news of Jesus with a world dying of sin. In fact, before He ascended to Heaven, to be at the father’s right hand, Jesus gave us all our marching orders:

Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Rejoice today, we serve a Risen Savior! Let us serve Him every day, in every way!

Happy Easter from AgapeModels.com!

On this day, many years ago, Jesus was nailed to a cross. The religious leaders of the day thought they were ridding themselves of a troublemaker, who dared challenge their authority. Some saw Him as crazy. Some saw Him as a zealot. Some saw Him as a threat to their on posotion. yet I daresay none of those who wtched Him die saw Him for who He was.

Immanuel, God with us. The long awaited Messiah. The Savior of the world. He was exactly Who He said he was.

Why then, did He have to die on the cross?

All  men, in all times, have sinned. No man who has lived has been free of sin. you see, a single sin will keep us out of heaven, out of an eternity with God, and will instead condemn us to an eternity in Hell. The Bible tells us no sin can enter heaven. Revelation 21:27 says “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” If God were to allow any sin into Heaven, it would be defiled. It would be like earth. It would no longer be perfect.

But God wants us there with Him, in Heaven, for eternity, because He loves us. Yet if we cannot live without committing sin, how can we get there.

Well, that’s why Jesus died on the cross. He died to take the punishment for our sins. All of our sins, every one in the world, then, now, and in the future, had God’s wrath taken out on them at the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tell us “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become therighteousness of God in Him.” Jesus was sinless, blameless, perfectly innocent in every way. His death paid for our sins.

So that debt of sin you and I have built up, and continue to build up, separates us from God. And if left unresolved, it will do so for an eternity. But resolving it is really not difficult. John 3:16 tells us “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9-10 says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior this day, why not come before Him in prayer, confessing you are a sinner, and you need His forgiveness? Ask Him to wash away your sins, and to be Lord and Savior of your life, believing only in Him. He’ll be faithful to do so, and you’ll know you will be prepared to go before God, not on your own merits, but because of the price Jesus paid on the cross for your sins. And more importantly, you’ll have a new life, re-birthed in the Holy Spirit, ready to serve the Lord as he leads you.

Jesus died on the cross this day for you, friend, to pay the price for your sins, because He loves you so much.

But the story does not end there…. Sunday is coming!

I’ve always enjoyed building short-run kits, odd-ball kits, kits that others thought were a bit oddly shaped, or difficult. It’s not that I’m a glutton for punishment, but rather I generally like a challenge. Plus, a lot of those oddball, older kits are cheap, so it’s worth a little effort to have some model building fun without spending a lot of money.

Of course, occasionally I like to build a kit that I know will just sort of fall together, without too many challenges. It gives me a sort of breather to do so. Usually, when I do want to build such a kit, I almost always turn to a Tamiya kit. Among all model makers. Tamiya has a reputation for being about as flawless as you can get for most of their models. The fit and detailing, especially given the cost for most of their 1/48 aircraft, is unmatched.

The only way to top all of that is if it’s free. And thank the Lord, this one was, courtesy of my good friend, and brother in Christ,  Tom Winter. Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Mason share’s another great build, this time a very cool looking F-5E in Aggressor colors. Looks great, Andy!

This was the first AFV Club F-5 I have built . . . but it won’t be my last.  It was a joy to build and looks great in Aggressor colors.

Ken Judt (icekj) posted this build report with photos of his nicely done Tamiya P-47. Great work Ken!

Lieutenant Colonel Robert S. Johnson flew with the 56th Fighter group, 8th Air Force from July 1942 until May 1944.  He flew 89 combat missions and was credited with 27 air-to-air victories.  When he transferred back to the United States in June of 1944 he was the ranking ace in the European theater.  Johnson collaborated with aviation author Martin Caidin to write his autobiographical story of the 56th Fighter Group, Thunderbolt!, in 1958.

In my long term project to build aircraft for the top 20 US aces from WWII, Johnson’s aircraft was one I was looking forward to building.  Johnson flew either 4 or 5 different aircraft in combat depending on which source you use.  I depicted the P-47D-15-RE Ser# 42-76234 that he flew in March and April of 1944.  He scored 5 victories in this aircraft.

For this build I used the excellent 1/72 Tamiya P-47D Razorback model kit.  This is the first time I have built this kit and I was looking forward to the “shake and bake” reputation it has in the modeling community.

List of kit and aftermarket:
Tamiya 1/72 P-47D Razorback
Eduard USAAF and USN Seatbelts WWII Pre-Painted photoetch
Superscale Decal 72-641 P-47 Razorbacks
Authentic Decals 72-02 US Propeller Stencils

I enjoyed the build process with this kit.  Even out of the box the cockpit and aircraft is well detailed for the scale.  There were no real surprises in the kit and everything fit very well.  This was the first time I used photo-etch seat belts in a build and I learned allot in handling photo-etch details.  I still prefer molded in seat belts in this scale but I will not be intimidated by photo-etch anymore.

The only photo of this aircraft that I could find showed the large flat style drop tank mounted on the fuselage hard point.  The razorback kit did not come with one so I used one from the Tamiya Bubble-top kits I also have.

Minimal filling and sanding was required for the kit.  The canopy moldings were also very clear and about as thin as you can get at this scale without going to a vacuform canopy.  I used Tamiya Fine White primer in the rattle can for this project.  The paint is a combination of Tamiya, Modelmaster, and Citadel acrylics.  Future was used for a gloss coat both before and after decals.  Because the Tamiya kit has the option for another 61st fighter squadron, 56th fighter group aircraft of the same time period I was able to use a minimum of decals from the Superscale sheet.  The serial numbers, kill board, letter P, and crew board were all that was used from the sheet.  I did purchase this sheet in the early 90′s and they had seen better days.  A coat of liquid decal film kept them from falling apart.  I used the Curtis Electric logos from the Authentic Decals sheet on that big paddle bladed propeller.  When all was done I used Model Master Acrylic Semi-Gloss thinned 2:1 paint to 91% rubbing alcohol.  This gives me an almost dead flat finish without any of the dreaded frosting.

I am very satisfied with the result and this kit deserves its reputation as a easy build.

Agape forum member Don McIntyre (DDonSS3) posted several sets of photos of Daytona 500 cars from 1991, when several cars were given special paint schemes as a salute to the military. Great stuff, Don!

The numbere 24 Air Force car wasn’t driven by who you might expect. It was driven by Mickey Gibbs in the 1991 Daytona 500, marked in dedication to the Airmen serving in Desert Storm.

The number 71 Coast Guard was driven by Dave Marcis (he of the wingtip driving shoes)… I’m pretty sure this is the Monogram kit. Dave and Dale Earnhardt were close friends. More than once Richard Childress (Dale’s car owner) would lend engines to Dave when needed. Dave would also act as test driver for Childress and  more than once he qualified cars for them as well.

The number 7 Army car is built from AMT and the decals for this one are from an aftermarket set by JnJ decals, if I recall correctly. The camouflage “spots” were part of the decal sheet.

George Collazo finished this awesome looking US Marine Harrier, complete with a shot of it “in-flight”! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome work. And be sure and check out George’s website, Model Kits Review!

I started this Harrier about 3 to 4 months ago, I did hit a few fit issues. No big deal, but I was getting involved with some 1/72 and 1/35 armor builds. After finishing a Tamiya Quad Gun Tractor last week, I decided to pull the Harrier out of the showcase. Since I bought this kit from LHS, I wanted Marines markings, but they only had the Italian Navy version. So, I had to order a set of OIF markings from Super Scale Decals (48-947) from Sprue Brothers.

Some gaps between the fuselage and wings were filled with A+B Epoxy which can be smoothed with cotton swabs and saliva (don’t ask me why, I don’t know, it works better than moistened with water). Putty on those areas would have been near to impossible to sand.

I was really excited to see news a few months back of Italeri’s release of a new-tool Hurricane Mk. I. I’ve always liked Hurricanes, stemming from seeing the movie “Battle of Britain” when I was a kid. They have a chunky, brutish look to them, yet with an elegant profile. Though I will certainly always give the nod to the Spitfire in terms of beauty, the Hurricane certainly has a classic profile. And what’s more important, it’s role in WWII was tremendous, though it has never received the credit it deserved as an airfame for the role it played early in the war, especially during the Battle of Britain.

I’d seen photos of the sprues online, so I felt fairly comfortable with what I was getting. I did think it’s price was a bit high, even for a new tool, at US$42. And though I rarely pay more than $25 for a kit, I decided to splurge a bit and get it when I saw it at my favorite hobby shop in the world, Hayes Hobby House in Fayetteville, NC. Read the rest of this entry »

Ken Judt is getting his modeling mojo back, and showed us the results with this fine looking F-16. Looks great, Ken!

Well, she is done!

Washes on, semi-gloss clear shot on everything, landing gear mounted, canopy unmasked, payload mounted, running lights painted, and the last few touch-ups done.

I give you a 1/72 Revell of Germany F-16C.  Markings are for 52nd TFW block 30 from Operation Desert Storm.  The F-16C’s did not have the SEAD pod yet so they fired their HARMs at a pre-planned position and heading and then flew escort for the F-4Gs.  The 52nd TFW durring Desert Storm consisted of both F-16s and F-4Gs.

Not too bad for almost two years work.

I really liked the detail level on the Revell of Germany 1/72 F-16 kit.  Only complaint was the join on the two upper halves of the fuselage.  When I do another of these kits I will take more time making sure that join is done better.  I will also wait until later in the build to mount the rear wings and tail.

This is built out of box with only Humbrol and custom decals added to the kit.  I really liked the fact that I did the payload before the rest of the kit.  Made finishing up a one day process instead of a week process.