Royal Navy AW (Hawker) Seahawk 1/72 Airfix

Have I already mentioned I like Airfix navy planes? This Armstrong Whitworth Seahawk is such a elegant example of 50's style aviation design that it appears to be in flight on the desktop too. Also the Gloster Meteor/Hawker Hunter-type genealogy is clearly evident in the flowing shapes. It's surprisingly small for an attack plane, like when compared to a Fairey Swordfish navy biplane.

The Airfix kit was a bit letdown: opaque decals, sink marks at prominent places, poor seams for gluing the parts and so on so this became another "test build sample". I also tried some different techniques which failed this time, so this kit has to be built again with better luck.

Swordfish and Seahawk in 1/72 scale comparison

RAF (South-East Asia Command) Hawker Hurricane IIc 1/72 Revell

Here's another Revell kit I like quite a lot and which I've built more than once, this time in SEAC Far East camouflage. This model is admittedly a sloppy work here and there, but it was built more in the purpose of keeping up the skills and scale modeling momentum rather than a serious research object. The kit is so nice I like the result as it is, despite the few shortcomings in the building quality.

US Navy Grumman F-14D Tomcat 1/72 Airfix

I had planned building this Airfix 70's Tomcat kit just 'as is', but the decal sheet caused some trouble. First, the Wolf Pak looked too simple and off-color even for an Airfix, and just to make sure I lost the whole sheet while putting this kit together. So, it became a testbed for Aeromaster aftermarket decals instead, as I've been toying with the idea of using good quality decals on a vintage Airfix for a while. Here's the result, they certainly spiff up the model, but I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble in the end. Out-of-the-box is never a strategy easily dismissed with old Airfix kits, it seems! Anyway, it's an Airfix navy jet, another must for my collection so to speak. Painting by airbrush with Xtracolor enamels for a two-tone Gull Grey retro scheme.

Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-52 1/144 Eduard

Excellent small scale kit of the famous Junkers tri-motor by Eduard, with photo-etch details, canopy/window masks, optional skis and stuff. A pleasure to build, originally this was intended to be a civil conversion model but I decided to try it as test build out-of-the-box first.

This is about how the original plane looked like when it was stationed in Finland, particularily at Kemi in January 1942.

From Künnapuu, Ants: 100 Ōhusōidukit. Illusteerinud V.Tōnisson (Valgus, Tallinn, 1975)

Aeronavale Curtiss SB2C Helldiver 1/72 Airfix

Another quite old Airfix kit with some accuracy issues (features of different subtypes and none of them right, I think) but that doesn't prevent it the least for becoming a part of my Navy 1/72 model collection. If it's an Airfix kit I build it and have fun with it just the same.

A monotonous deep naval blue finish needed some weathering, which I normally won't use much, in my old-skool models anyway. All painting and varnishing with Revell enamels with a paintbrush.

Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I Airfix 1/24

Airfix "super kit" from the 70's was still huge fun to build, I recall I built this same kit as a kid and attempted even some kind of camouflage back then.

Despite the age this kit is impressive even today, there are endless possibilities for superdetailing and such but I used this kit mainly for pure enjoyment out-of-the-box-style and  also as a freehand airbrush practice target.

Note the 2 Euro coin beside the landing gear, this model is BIG! Storage problems aside, I'd really like to try out the "'Fix Big Emil" Messerschmitt Bf-109 too.

From Künnapuu, Ants: 100 Ōhusōidukit. Illusteerinud V.Tōnisson (Valgus, Tallinn, 1975)

Luftwaffe Panavia Tornado IDS 1/144 Revell (#04030)

Revell's "new" 1/144 tiny fighter jets are quite amazing. They're cheap but very, very cheerful and every bit complicated to build as their 1/72 or 1/48 counterparts. One might think this model would have been quick to slap together, but I spent a solid busy two weeks with this kit (and enjoyed every bit of it).

Construction was relatively easy, considering the minimal fittings and areas for glue in this scale. Even cockpit decals were included, which tells about the commitment to accuracy with this kit.


All painting was done with enamels and paintbrush, colors used for the wraparound camouflage were Xtracolor Schwartzgrau, Humbrol 116 and Revell 68.

I really like these small scale models, if only the civil airliner kits were detailled as finely as these!