Scale modelling

Finished, a filament 3D-printed Porco Rosso seaplane. The 1992 Studio Ghibli animated movie "Porco Rosso" features a red seaplane somewhat based on the Macchi M.33 and Savoia S.21, and is set in the Adriatic. Porco Rosso is a fighter ace and bounty hunter cursed to have a pig's head. The model itself was 3D printed with filament by a friend, so it's very rough and layered. I sanded it for hours with 320 grint sandpaper to get it less rough. Still with the bright colours, it looks pretty nice. Pretend you're watching the movie in 320x200 resolution.

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I'm busy with a couple of interesting kits this month. A Classic Airframes 1/48 Defiant TT (target tug). Terrible kit, nothing fits, but the resin interior is nice.

And a Zvesda 1/144 Beriev BE-200ES jet flying boat firefighting aircraft. Small kit, neat fit, but terrible water bay door (I had to make my own).
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this used to be one of my hobbies in school in the 70s and very early 80s (i matriculated in 84 and started varsity in 85) - I don't have any photos but the biggest model i built was a 1/24th scale spitfire (i think it was either an Airfix or Tamiya but more likely the Airfix) and sticking with the Spitfire i did another one almost the same scale ie 1/24th with a skeleton/frame of Balsa wood and an outer skin of some type of tissue paper that was then brushed with some form of laquer that hardened it into a protective shell but that one was actually supposed to fly - it had a working propeller connected to a largish rubber band and you had to turn the prop counterclockwise and then let it go and watch the plane take off and fly a smallish distance ...... it worked okay until one of my cousins decided he wanted to fly it further than i used to demo and he turned the prop counterclockwise till the entire fuselage collapsed into itself

as an aside - that guy is now one of Australias most eminent cancer research scientists so he wasn't actually an idiot ..... just a curious chappy and at that time i did not have the temper that i have now - so i just went on to the next project

as another aside i remember having built many kits when i was into the hobby including among them a Messerchnitt ME109, a Japanese Zero and a De Haviland Mosquito and after watching the movie about the dam busters i did an Avro Lancaster bomber as well ..... only did one non plane kit which was a 1984 Mazda RX7 which was the car that essentially made me into a car enthusiast
 
Been to a few places in Boksburg just now. Nothing scale OO or HO available.

Looking for OO petrol pumps. 1940s 1960 style.

Seems I will have to make em myself.
 
Been to a few places in Boksburg just now. Nothing scale OO or HO available.

Looking for OO petrol pumps. 1940s 1960 style.

Seems I will have to make em myself.
Take a look online for 3D-printable ones - add "stl" for your search, that may pick up a few.
 
Beriev Be-200ES

Completed, the Zvesda 1/144 Beriev Be-200ES fire-fighting plane. The Beriev Be-200ES is a Russian jet-powered flying boat used by the Russian Navy and here as a fire-fighting aircraft that scoops up tons of water and drops it on fires.

It's my 5th seaplane model of the year. The kit fits together really well, and because I wanted it shown dumping water, I did it with wheels retracted. However, to do it "in flight" with water bay doors open, you need to cut the doors out. That was a poor design - too thick, and the instructions just left the doors out. I fabricated thinner doors and mounted them in the right places. The build otherwise was easy, and painting it in white, grey and blue too (though I had to make dead sure the white/grey border was exactly where the decals would be. The decals though! Lots of tiny stencils (sometimes like 5 tiny dots on one large decal). Almost the front half of each fuselage half was a single large irregular decal - it was very stressful cutting it out, placing it, and making sure it lined up with the continuous lines from the rear sides. There were a few lines too, that needed to be all lined up perfectly. Fortunately it all came out well. Then I used the kit stand, and glued cotton wool to give the water dump effect; I think it looks reasonably good when comparing to real pictures.

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Defiant TT

Completed, the Classic Airframes 1/48 Boulton Paul Defiant T.T. Mk1 target tug. Fascinating aircraft, converted from the Defiant turret-fighter to tow targets for fighter pilot training. This one was used by the USAAF, and they plastered US markings directly over the RAF markings, so the plane has both US and RAF markings. The kit comes with resin parts for cockpit, rear cockpit, winch, propeller for the generator, the tug stuff underneath, and wheel wells.

The kit itself is terrible, unfortunately. The resin parts are nice, but that's all. The rest is not nice. Parts don't fit (like, the nose is a couple of mm narrower than the fuselage, and the wing needs trimming to fit the fuselage), and there are no locating pins (I drilled holes and made my own pins for tailplanes), and more. So much wrong. The decals are thick and don't settle nicely over detail, and I think an entire decal sheet is missing (the instructions indicated lots of stencils that were not there, and one RAF roundel was absent). At least there are recessed panel lines (though I rescribed them anyway to make them a little deeper). The Defiant’s undercarriage is a little complex, but fortunately I got it right. I cut the front canopy open so that the inside was visible, but of course the sliding section didn't fit over the fuselage; I had to do lots of sanding.

Interesting subject though; the black and yellow underside is cool.

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Defiant TT

Completed, the Classic Airframes 1/48 Boulton Paul Defiant T.T. Mk1 target tug. Fascinating aircraft, converted from the Defiant turret-fighter to tow targets for fighter pilot training. This one was used by the USAAF, and they plastered US markings directly over the RAF markings, so the plane has both US and RAF markings. The kit comes with resin parts for cockpit, rear cockpit, winch, propeller for the generator, the tug stuff underneath, and wheel wells.

The kit itself is terrible, unfortunately. The resin parts are nice, but that's all. The rest is not nice. Parts don't fit (like, the nose is a couple of mm narrower than the fuselage, and the wing needs trimming to fit the fuselage), and there are no locating pins (I drilled holes and made my own pins for tailplanes), and more. So much wrong. The decals are thick and don't settle nicely over detail, and I think an entire decal sheet is missing (the instructions indicated lots of stencils that were not there, and one RAF roundel was absent). At least there are recessed panel lines (though I rescribed them anyway to make them a little deeper). The Defiant’s undercarriage is a little complex, but fortunately I got it right. I cut the front canopy open so that the inside was visible, but of course the sliding section didn't fit over the fuselage; I had to do lots of sanding.

Interesting subject though; the black and yellow underside is cool.

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Guessing the colouring underneath is cause it's a Target Tug?
 
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