This is a Matra Simca F1 car from 1968. The usual mix of plastic and white metal from MFH.

My first problem here is finding reference pictures because MFH has produced an MS11 chassis with a MS9 engine which is correct but nearly all surviving cars seem to have an MS12 engine as above. Anyway thats a detail but it does mean that i will have to guess some details, not least engine colour.

This is a strange choice from MFH here but it should be noted if you like this car then Tamiya did it in their “big scale” 1/12 series as well. Not a successful car, it raced in 1968 with its own Matra Simca V12 engine although I think it did a little better in later Cosworth engined versions. The Matra V12 in this first-generation form was under powered and tended to overheat but its major disadvantage was it was not strong enough to be used as a stressed member of the chassis like the Cosworth.
I chose this model because MFH cars are a pretty new experience for me. Unlike most of their models this car has no hood, trunk, doors or windows 😉, basically nothing on hinges which if you are on a learning curve with these white metal kits, is a big advantage. Its also still available to buy direct from MFH saving you a fair amount of cash. You could almost say that these early F1 models are just a small step up from motorcycles as far as building goes with the added advantage there is no spoked wheels or drive chain.

This is a better representation of the kit car, no front wing, engine trumpets at 45 degree etc although both are billed as MS11

Back in 1968, F1 was quite different game from the high tech, surgical and clinically clean science it is today This has a bearing on how you might finish a model IMHO ranging from well used (not a condition seen today) to museum quality. This picture shows an MS11 in its pits at Nürburg ring German GP in 1968

Oh how things have changed, I have seen pictures of cars being pushed to the grid through mud and puddles :-)

Finding your way round round these models i a bit of s mission at first. Parts are not marked and there are hundreds of them, the answer is to download a parts list from MFH (why dont they put one in the box) so you can cross reference the part to its picture which will give you a part number that tallies with the instructions. All parts will need tidying up and nearly all parts will need holes drilled. These are the basic engine castings, i have already drilled nearly 100 holes in these castings, mostly 0.9 and 1mm which gives you some idea about how the build differs from your average Tamiya kit.

These parts above have also been put through my geologists rock tumbler to take the sharp edges off.

Anyway i have set the scene, staked my claim here and will update as i slowly build a great model or just destroy an expensive kit :-)

The next model will be another 3D printed model from MDesign in Bulgaria.

An Armstrong-Whitworth FK.3 'Little Ack', Serial No.A1488 of No.50 Training Squadron, based at Narborough, June 1917.

This aircraft was fitted with dual flight controls for the student pilot in the rear cockpit,

Mike

The box Art depicts the racing version with the wide fender flares and propped open trunk to assist in cooling the engine. I'll be doing mine as a street version but with the fenders.

Even in 1/12 scale, it's not a big car.

First up, I built the engine. The fit is okay, but there's a fair number of sink marks to take care of. Here's the completed engine. Nothing like @DocRob and his MFH kits.

That's as far as I've gotten at the moment but more to come.

Carl

Churchill’s “Flying Suitcase”

With the new look and renewed activity of the forum, I’ll be making a (gradual) change to the way I’ve been presenting my reviews.

I will continue doing reviews, but this time as full build logs straight from the box.

I’m not exactly an internationally renowned modeller (although at home I’m very well known!), and when this opportunity came up, I was genuinely excited—almost like a modelling rebirth, as I currently feel in a state of complete modelling apathy, with little drive or motivation.

With that honest admission, I make a commitment here, in this virtual space, to follow through as quickly as possible!

The chosen subject will be the ICM Hampden B.Mk.I in 1:48 scale.

I’ll be sharing step-by-step photos of the build and my thoughts along the way—what proved more challenging, how the assembly goes, the level of detail, and so on.

The paint scheme will be one of the options provided in the box, so I can make use of the supplied decals, while the paints used will be my own preferred choices.

I’ll leave you with some initial photos, and now it’s time to head to the bench to cut, glue some plastic, paint… and take pictures!

Just thought I'd stick my flag in the ground and commit myself to this project!

This is my first online build log on the new Large Scale Modeller forum. This build is already at 75% at the moment, but I'll try to upload as many build pics I can find on my devices.

The kit is the Trumpeter me262, with an MDC U2 conversion.

This is my first 1/48 model. Surprisingly, there were a few parts in the kit that didn't fit together very well.

Very affordable building kit. And quick to assemble.

I will be adding some stowage.

So, I bought this shirt at the EAA museum in 2024, right before NATS in Madison, WI. And I've been wearing it to shows but I don't have a P-40 on the shelf. So when Sprue had a sale a while back, I bought the Great Wall Hobbies kit.

Since the shirt has && on it, I've been planning on building 77.

Some of the AM that I've bought for it.

And some of the progress on it. Cockpit area mostly.

Ready to close up the fuselage.

Added the wings and tail surfaces too.

The I got to working on and finishing the Bf109K-4 and working on the Spitfire VII.

I had to wait 'til gray paint arrived for the spitfire, so I got back to this a little.

Now the gray paint for the Spitfire has arrived, so this will sit a little longer.

The START of some AM🙃

The porthole were all drilled and exterior ladders installed these were 1/350 for IJN in that scale measure 24" across 18" in 1/200 and KM were narrow by pics.

Starting to add some PE to the SS.

You can see some railing being added to front of the SS at this point PE evaporated from Chikuma and I am now making them out of .015". brass wire tweezers narrowed to correct with bent and cut looks better being round over flat

E

More PE and binoculars these are 3D print now the build price/quality starts going up I am now will over $1K on the build.I have invested heavily in 3D from this point out I still used some Veteran Models stuff a mix of resin/PE small tiny and time consuming.

This needed modification for Operation Paderborn I believe a directory for the forward guns

Some paint being laid now RLM66 this is the observation deck/lookout my one major flaw in the build this is the Gneisenau design why Trumpter did not make that one piece to fix the ship to fix it if it failed was to much of a loss at this point so she stayed.

I should of studied just a tad more I am not the only a French builder did a beautiful build which inspired me he just did catch the mistake

SS coming together I think these are the Veteran Models guns they got replaced later down the line with Bunker Studios.

All the interior parts were primed and ready.

So, having finished the F-16 my bench is ready to get these done.

The ZM kit is much further along with the cockpit done, fuselage closed up and the majority of the wings completed as well as the engine.

The Revell one has the wings started, the fuselage halves together, and the engine mostly complete.

I first investigated whether a propitiatory lower hull could be used, but this would not have been correct, so was dismissed.

This would have been an easy solution, but why make life easier?

I assembled the hull as per the instructions, after installing bearings for the suspension. Inner and outer bearings were fitted for the torsion bars to pivot on.

A test assembly of the swing arms showed that, by using a metal cold weld product, a solid mount could be made to mount the torsion bar on the swing arms.

Inside the swing arm, is a captive nut to hold the wheels on. Two bearings and washers were used on each wheel station, to give a nice smooth ride.

This is my in progress build. I started painting the green blotches this morning using a mix of craft paint. The kit instruction are being used as a guide because it's a pretty good match to photos of the real plane. Gary S.

I bought the kit last fall at the IPMS Murfreesboro show. There was quite a bit of AM included in the kit box.

While I was at it, I bought some additional AM. Not all of it was used.

I found this book on Amazon.

And I eventually decided on this specific aircraft.

This aircraft was taken on charge by 131 Squadron in late February '44 and lost April 23, '44 while being flown by Irish-born Australian Douglas Phillips during a scramble.

So... a younger friend at work gave me this and I decided I had better build it to honor the gift. I do the same thing when I get model gifts from my daughter.

After gluing the hull quarters together, I decided to remove all of the oversized rivets... all of the oversized welds and raised panel lines... and then my mind took it one step further and I decided to open all of the permanently open holes made for the water to pass through the external hull of the u-boat.

The starboard side closest to you is a lot closer to being done than the port side. Those coffee stirrers next to the hull are my custom-made sanding sticks custom fitted to the open holes you see before you.

Some of the areas are dangerously thin. I've been using a Dremel and various engraving bits to reduce the plastic. Of course... the bits can be too aggressive to control easily. So often, small repairs have to be made.

These ventral holes need to be made smoother and cleaner. Finding the right tools is proving difficult. I need files that are thinner than 1mm and no wider than 3-4mm. Anybody know of a set?

It's dusty work... but once you get a vision in your head, you can either follow it... or have it nag you.

But then... you realize you may have stepped in it.u

I'm gonna have to do a weak representation of the inner works. I have plenty of materials to work with. I hope I don't get bogged down. It's important that when the model is looked at that no light passes through.

I've been working with Copilot (the AI already in my laptop) to design some figures. Here is a funny thing, though: No matter what you tell it, it steers away from WWII German heraldry. So, the skipper looks American. I'm trying to learn Blender. But, it's difficult, and the AI isn't always the best teacher. I think that I will look into that program Jeroen is using and try to make figures from pictures.

Anyway... enough modelling for tonight.

While I'm waiting for the MDesign AW FK.3 kit to arrive, I'm working on another model.

It's the older resin cast Oef D.III (Albatros) from Lukgraph (not the later 3D printed kit).

The aircraft is D.III (Oef), Series 253.12 as flown by Oberleutenant in der Reserve Ludwig Hautzmayer, Commanding Officer of Flik 61/J, operating from Ghirano, Italy, during the the Summer of 1918.

Some details of the cockpit needed modifying to better reflect a Series 253 series aircraft.

The pilot's instrument panel was not a single span panel, but two separate panels (left and right).

The rear of the two machine guns were mounted on a cockpit cross bar.

Also, the pilot's seat was not normally solid wood, but had several large lightening holes

Therefore, I've cut the instrument panel into two panels, added a Brass rod/tube cockpit cross bar for the machine guns.

Also added lightening holes in the pilot's seat.

I've removed the cast hatch panels and cooling louvres from the fuselage.

Kit photo-etch alternative panels fitted with 'Proper Plane' replacement cooling louvres.

Support rods added to flight control surfaces etc,

Mike

Here's the last post on this build before the forum went down.

The model has been weathered.

I used Flory dark dirt and grime wash, AK Interactive Kerosene and Oil wash.

Also Tamiya Weathering Master Set A and D for oil and dirt stains.

The upper wing, fuselage and rudder were pre-rigged using Gaspatch 1:48th scale turnbuckles, 0.5 mm tube and 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament.

Finally the upper wing was fitted and was probably the easiest wing fit I've had in 60 plus build.

The elastic bands are to keep the wings together while fitting,

Now it's onto final rigging,

Mike