F-27s Models for April 2021

[F-27pax]

The passion for US Navy aeroplanes in the Dark Sea Blue scheme continues. This time the old Airfix 1/72 McDonnell F2H-2 kit. I remember when this was a new kit back some time in the 1980s and I rushed out to buy it, not realizing that it would take 30 years for me to get around to making it. Still, that’s what kit collections are for, aren’t they? This might have been a reasonable kit in its time but it really shows its age in 2021, but the more recent Sword kit of this aeroplane appears to have completely disappeared. I did manage to get a new ejection seat because the one in this kit looked entirely unconvincing, a new cockpit set might have been nice but none was available and you wouldn’t be able to see it anyhow. The kit decals had become almost unusable so I created them using old Microscale decale sheets which were probably as old as this kit but had aged much more gracefully. Finally, a few coats of primer sanded back with Micromesh and a couple of coats of SMS Dark Sea Blue lacquer, and here it is. Not one of the world’s great models, but looking pretty neat.





After a few months off because of a move the Airbus A.320 production line is running again. These models were made using the Zvezda kits which you can pick up fairly cheaply on-line, so I have a few more to go before the set is complete. I find the Zvezda A.320 kits more complex to put together and the older Revell kit might not be a bad option if you could get some of the earlier kits, but the moulds are getting on now and need a lot of cleaning up to be useful. So Zvezda it is from now on.





Both models are of the same airliner, VH-VNB. The first as it first appeared in Australia flying for Tiger Airways in 2007 and then as it appeared flying for Tigerair in 2016. Since then it has also flown in Virgin Australia, which I will get around to in the next month or two.





Here are three I made earlier

This is a reconstruction I made in the 1980s of a kit that I bought in the 1960s of the experimental Saunders Roe SR.53 composite jet and rocket powered fighter. I bought this Airfix kit as it first appeared in a Series 1 plastic bag, a very basic kit that I improved in a couple of ways when I reconstructed it, but it is still very basic.





Here is another Airfix kit of that Hawker Hurricane I that I made when it first appeared in the 1980s. This one demonstrates what weathering and chipping a model comprised of in that era, which perhaps shows that those aspects of modelling are a matter of taste and fashion, and also why I don’t spend any time on doing it these days.





I don’t know if this 1/72 Testors kit of the Northrop-Grumman B-2 is still around these days. I would hope that there is something better because I don’t remember this as being a great modellimg experience. Still, after a few years in storage and with the details of the struggles forgotten it doesn’t look too bad,

[Ansett A330]

Very nice once again. Always look forward to your monthly update.

Be interesting to see what you think of the Hobbycraft later version and kit of the Banshee compared to the Airfix kit?

Nice to see the SR53 and Hurricane.

I bought one of the Testors B2s when they came out not necessarily for the kit as such but more to have a look at the undercarriage as supposedly it’s the same as on the 757. Had the chance to buy an ultra cheap second one at PX in 2019 but thought too long about while I was walking around and when I went back to the same Seller’s Tables it was of course gone.

[F-27pax]

I was thinking about getting the Academy F2H-3 until I saw on Scalemates that it is a reissue of the Hobbycraft kit. I think I'll pass on it, though at the moment I'm doing battle with the Mach 2 A2D-1 which is, of course, Dark Sea Blue. Some of us never learn. Wish me luck.

[erussell]

Nice models!

[hrtpaul]

Great body of work there mate. Well done