Agape forum member Steve Cook shared these photos of his gorgeous Hasegawa Learjet build from a few years ago. Great work on this Steve!

My fascination with building World War II Russian aircraft shows no signs of slowing down! It’s a part of aviation history I’ve not learned much about in the past, so it’s been fun doing research for these builds. One of the aircraft series that I’ve found particularly interesting is the Lavochkin fighters.

While the LaGG-3 did not astound everyone with it’s performance, designer Semyon Lavochkin went back to the drawing board, and after adding a radial engine and some other improvements to the fighter, came up with a winner. The La-5 was the first in this series of radial-engined Russian fighters. Read the rest of this entry »

Forum member Gil Hodges shows you can get a great looking model with an old classic, some hard work, and a little help from your friends! Gil used Agape member Mark Buchler’s resin upgrade set to convert Lindberg’s classic F11C-2 kit into a BFC-2. If you’re interested in Mark’s resin set, head over to the Modelshack and take a look! It’s a great upgrade set that will not only upgrade the F11C-2, but also allow for the BFC-2 conversion. Thanks for sharing your great work with us, Gil!

This is the 1/48 Lindberg kit, converted to the later BFC-2 and detailed using the Modelshack resin update set.

The “doped silver” was done with Alclad White Aluminum, the tail planes in MM Gloss White, and the top wing with MM Chrome Yellow (over Tamiya Fine white primer). The prop is Alclad Chrome over MM gloss black enamel, with decaled tip colors. The cowling is Testors Beret Green, which is the closest match to the decal sheet green markings. I also used Alclad Gloss Klear Kote to seal the decals and gloss the whole model.

The model is rigged with 6 mm ceramic fiber (Wonder Wire). This stuff is GREAT! Just cut it to length, flex it into the holes, and add a drop of glue in the holes to secure it. No need to paint it or stretch it taught! The markings are from the Yellow wings Goshawk sheet. They performed flawlessly!

This older Lindberg kit was a breeze to build, even with the resin conversion spine, compared to the Classic Airframes F11C-2 kit. If you want to build a 1/48 Goshawk, I recommend finding this older gem and ordering the Modelshack resin set.

Forum member Dale Hutchinson (Hutch) posted photos of his completed work on Airfix’s new-tool F-86 kit. Dale said “I really like how this one came out and I highly recommend this kit“. It looks great!

Agape forum member Mark Strasser built this very colorful Matchbox Seasprite OOB, using decals from his spare decals. it looks awesome, Mark- thanks for sharing this with us!

Agape forum member Steve Cook shared his great looking P-47D kit. Very unusual scheme, Steve. It looks great!

Agape forum member Mark Strasser shared photos of his very colorful Skyraider. It looks great- thanks for sharing it with us Mark!

New forum member Tom Zahler shared this remarkable story of how his family history and model building intersected. Great stuff Tom!

August 19, 1945 shortly after noon local time two Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty Bombers approach the airfield at Ie Shima, Okinawa.  They house the surrender delegation of the Japanese Empire.  My grandfather was there and tried to take a movie of the event, but the film tangled in his camera, instead he was able to take some photos that I have included here.

This was a special project for me personally.  It is something to look at history with photos your own grandfather took.

As far as the kit, it was a typical Tamiya.  It went together very well.  I was scared to death to airbrush white paint, but I think it turned out pretty good.  I used both X-2 and XF-2.  I used the Dark Dirt Wash and left some on the engines.  Some of the photos I have seen have shown quite a bit of oil leaking for the engines.  Also some of the windows near the nose I did not mask as they were painted over.  There were 2 Bettys, one with black props and the other I did with white props.  I used black green for the crosses.  The ones on the wings are a little crooked, but I do like the fuselage and tail ones.

I am very proud of this one.

The Yak-7 line of fighters has an unusual history. Originally designed to be a two seat trainer, flights tests of the Yak-7 showed that it was a more capable aircraft than the Yak-1, and it immediately began to be produced as both a two seat trainer and a single seat fighter. The -7V was a fixed-gear version of the fighter, specifically for training pilots as they transitioned from simpler trainers to the faster fighters.

Alanger’s Yak-7V is a rebox of the ICM kit. The parts are well cast, and have nice surface detail. The single piece canopy is very thick, and has overly heavy framing. Markings for a single aircraft are provided. Read the rest of this entry »

Honza has shared another stunning model build with us. This is one I’d never heard of. The Doflug D-3802 was a license-built MS 406 produced in Switzerland, with some changes and improvements. Something I found interesting was how much the wing looks like a P-51 wing. Honza did a wonderful job on this one- thanks for sharing with us!

There were no big problems, although there are some places that require attention:

• The cannons are too fragile (yes, I destroyed them)
• Antenna mast and pitot tube also
• You must glue the wingtips separately – they are different for the prototype and for other machines

These are just minor problems. Panel lines are deep and not wide, just as I like them. Very nice kit of an interesting plane (with interesting camouflage).

Agape forum member Aaron Long (RonnieRex) shared his finished work on this great looking Fw-190D. Aaron received a Third Place award for his work at the IPMS Phantom Phlashers’ contest on April 6th in Anniston, Alabama. Aaron said he used Eduard PE on the seatbelts, rear canopy, and wheels, MM enamel, alclad, Vallejo, Citadel, and Tamiya paints, and some bits of copper wire. Great work Aaron!

It’s always a good thing when Airfix releases a new-tool kit. It’s an even better thing when it’s a Spitfire!

Airfix fulfilled the wishes of many Spitfire fans with their recent release of the Griffon-engined Spitfire Mk. XIX. While the numbers of this particular model of Spitfire were never that great, it’s unique, clean look as a purpose built recon aircraft has given it a special place among modelers.

It follows in the footsteps of two other Griffon-engined variants that Airfix has released over the last few years, those being the Spitfire Mk. XII and the Seafire Mk. XVII. (Here’s to hoping for a Mk. XIV!) Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, Jesus paid the price for our sins. But on Sunday, He went a step further. He gave us life- eternal life, beyond the grave, with Him! By breaking the chains of sin and death, Christ made it possible for all people to have a choice of where we live eternally. Our destination doesn’t have to be in the eternal fires of Hell. By accepting Jesus as our Savior, asking forgiveness for our sins and receiving His gift of eternal life, we can live with Him in Heaven after our earthly body has died.

But it’s not automatic. We don’t go to heaven because we are a good person, or because our parents went to church, or even by following the Ten Commandments. We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, believe it in our hearts and confess it with our mouth. Only then will we be saved!

If you are a Christian, celebrate today the victory you have in Christ over death. When He walked out of that grave, He brought those who believe in along. Celebrate your freedom from the sting of death!

If you are not a Christian, I urge you to consider what Christ offers you. there is no other way- Jesus Himself said that. In John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Faith in your own goodness or adherence to rules will not change your current path to eternity in Hell. You must turn from yourself, and turn to Christ.

Luke 24

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

We all have debts. Cars, homes, credit cards, tuition and others. Sometimes we can pay those off, sometimes we can’t. But the thing they all have in common is that once we die, they don’t follow us.

But there is another debt we all have- sin. All of us- everyone who has ever lived- has sinned against God in some way shape or form. And that sin will separate us from God eternally, in hell. But unlike financial debts, which we can pay off ourselves, our sin debt cannot be paid by what we do. no amount of good works, good living, philanthropy or self-denial will pay our debt.

Yet God loves us so much that he sent Jesus Christ to pay the debt for our sins. the debt we owe is death. Yet Christ died on a Cross to pay our debt, forever. All we have to do is ask for His forgiveness and receive that forgiveness. When we do that, our debt is paid.

If you are already a Christian, remember the price that was paid for you, and live as someone ransomed from hell. if you are not a believer, I urge you to examine your own life, and and consider asking Jesus to be your Savior.

Mark 15

22 Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 28 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.” 29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. 32 Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

33 When the sixth hour came, darkness [p]fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

My continuing interest in Soviet World War II aviation rolls on. It all started with a P-39 build after reading Redstar Airacobra. I’ve enjoyed building something a bit different, so I’ve decided that I’ll stick with the theme for a while.

This is Eduard’s 1/48 Yak-3 kit, which is from the late 1990′s I believe. Despite it’s age, it is a nice, simple, well fitting kit. Nothing about the construction should present any problems, and because the parts count is low, it can be assembled quite rapidly. Detail is good, though a bit simple when compared to newer Eduard kits. (Of course, if you are so inclined, there are aftermarket sets for this kit to dress it up.)

The paints are not really accurate, but I wasn’t too concerned about that. I actually used Vallejo Sky Blue on the undersides, and Tamiya’s RAF Medium Sea Gray and Ocean Gray for the upper surfaces. Decals were from Aeromaster’s ”The Russians are here!” Part II (48-642).

Weathering was done with some light fading/shading with the airbrush, and various oil techniques for panel lines, mud and oil splatters.

It’s a quick simple build that yields a nice looking model without any problems!

Mark Tutton at Starfighter Decals graciously sent these two very colorful and great looking sets for review. Both decal sets are of extremely high quality, which we’ve all come to expect from Starfighter Decals.

USN at Coral Sea May 1942

The first set,  USN at Coral Sea May 1942 (Item #72-137), covers three aircraft types: TBD, SBD, and F4F-3 Wildcats. The following aircraft can be built-

• Two F4F-3s from VF-42 aboard the Yorktown
• One F4F-3 from VF-2 aboard the Lexington
• Three SBD-3 from VS-2 aboard the Lexington
• One SBD-3 from VS-5 aboard the Yorktown
• and one each TBD-1 from VT-2 and VT-5

In addition, Mark has included markings “for the SBD-3 photographed after the battle re-painted to promote the exploits of Ens. Lippa and Radioman Liska.” Markings are provided for 1 complete aircraft of each type. Color placement guide with information about each aircraft and builders notes included.

This is a 3rd set from mark’s themed decals for early Pacific War US aircraft, the other two being Pearl Harbor Defenders & USN at Midway 3-7 June 1942. If you are a fan of early-war USN aircraft, you need to get these sets! Price is US$12.00 plus shipping.

Colorful Dauntless

For fans of pre-war USN aircraft, Starfighter Decals has some very colorful options for you. Also newly released is the Colorful Dauntless set (Item #72-138). This contains markings for three aircraft:

• SBD-1 VMB-1 1-MB-7 MCAS Quantico
• SBD-2 2-B-4 (use -3 kit), VB-2 Douglas Plant
• SBD-1 VMB-2 Red Devils 2-B-1 MCAS North Island

National Insignia for 1 aircraft and color placement guide included. Price is US$6.00 plus shipping.

Both of these decal sets are very rich in color, and in perfect register. They are produced by Cartograph, so you can be assured of the highest quality and performance from these decals.

Thanks again Mark for sending these great looking decals for review!

When it comes to enhancing the look of a model, I’ve always felt that nothing can add more impact to the final result than some great looking resin aftermarket accessories. Whether it is a set of wheels, a new prop, control surfaces, a cockpit or a wheel well, resin accessories are often one of the simplest ways to spruce things up and add detail and realism that may not be found in the injection molded part. And in my experience, one of the finest producers of great resin accessories is Ultracast.

Kevin McLaughlin graciously sent some resin accessories for review. All of the parts look great, and have the quality that I’ve come to expect from Ultracast. There are a lot of resin parts out there, from a variety of manufacturers, but Ultracast’s products have always been at the top of the heap in my experience. (I think if I could afford to I would buy their Spitfire and P-40 seats with harnesses by the dozen! ) Read the rest of this entry »

You really can’t go wrong with one of Eduard’s Weekend Edition kits. The plastic is great, the price is excellent, and the quality is top notch. Their 1/48 La-7 kit is no exception to this. While it does not contain the photoetch, masks ad multiple decal options that their Profipack kits do, it is a great bargain and builds great right out of the box.

This is the second time I’ve built this kit, the first being back in 2007, and I thoroughly enjoyed it both times, even doing the same marking scheme!

Construction is very straight-forward, with no problems for the most part. I did use some Tamiya Basic Putty to smooth out the wing to fuselage join. The way the kit is engineered, the fuselage is placed on top of a single wing assembly, with the top of the wing being the cockpit floor. Adding some Tamiya Basic Putty to the join, and smoothing it out with a Qtip soaked in nail polish remover took care of the gap without any problems.

I painted the undersides Vallejo Sky Blue, thinned with some water and Future for airbrushing. The Future also greatly improves the adhesion of the paint to the plastic. Upper surfaces were painted with Tamiya XF-82 Ocean Gray 2 RAF and Tamiya XF-83 RAF Medium Sea Gray. No, these aren’t the correct colors, but they were on hand, and close enough for me. (I generally paint to TLAR standard… “that looks about right”. )

The decals went on well, and I finished up with some airbrush shading and fading, oils for a panel wash and mud “splatters”, and a matte coat using Vallejo Matte Coat.

This is a great, simple kit that is a lot of fun to build, and it’s affordable. I highly recommend it!

In Pt. I of this dual-build, I covered Ark Models’ 1/48 MiG-3. In Pt. II, I’ll be covering Trumpeter’s 1/48 MiG-3 Late Version.

There are quite a few folks who give Trumpeter a hard time about their kits. From their use of recessed rivet detail to errors in shape or other detail accuracy, the company receives some harsh treatment on forums from many modelers. And some of the criticism is not unwarranted, in cases. But overall, I’ve enjoyed every Trumpeter kit I’ve built, despite the complaints. Read the rest of this entry »

In January I had written a kit preview for Ark Model’s MiG-3, graciously provided by my friend Alex at scale-model-kits.com. The research for building this kit sparked an interest in learning about the MiG-3, and so I have had quite an enjoyable time not only with the build, but with learning also. That’s one of the great things about this hobby- it’s as much history as it is hobby.

In reading about the MiG-3, I decided building one wasn’t enough. So inspired by my recent dual-Airacobra build, I decided to do a dual MiG-3, comparing the Ark Models kit to the Trumpeter offering, which is covered in Pt. II of this dual-build.

One thing I learned fairly quickly in my research is that the MiG-3 that Aleksandr Pokryshkin flew (which is the subject of this boxing) is actually an early model MiG-3, and the Ark Models kit is a late version. Of course, I’m not a stickler for details like that, but as my research had turned up quite a few color profiles, and the other half of this dual build, the Trumpeter kit, had multiple marking options for a late version MiG-3, I decided to use the Trumpeter markings for the Ark Models kit.

The Ark Models kit is actually the ICM molding, repackaged by Ark Models.

The cockpit for the kit is fairly detailed. It consists of separate tube-framework sidewalls and floor pieces for the cockpit, similar to a Hawker Hurricane. The parts are nicely detailed. I normally am a bit put off by this type of arrangement, as they often can be quite fiddly to assemble, but these actually went together with no problem. Once assembled, it forms a nice little framework that fits easily into the fuselage. I did opt to leave out the seat backing, so that by adding it later, I could get a proper angle for it’s fit. Read the rest of this entry »