21st Feb Club Night 2023
Our usual contributor has been struck down with COVID so is out of action for a few weeks, so Nick W has stepped in to provide some words & pics from the night…
Our theme for the evening was Eastern Europe, a rather sparse turn out of subjects – but amongst a number of models brought in by Ray, both armour and helicopters was this impressive 1:35 MiL Hind.
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Sticking with the Eastern Europe theme, Brian R brought in this T55A from a Polish unit that, he confirmed, were forced to contribute to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The distinctive white markings were applied for this operation. Alongside the T55 Brian also displayed this similarly marked T62 from the Soviet army. |
| Moving away from the Eastern European theme, Paul has finished the Airfix K2/Y ambulance to his usual high standards in the desert “Caunter” scheme. |
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Dave B brought along a quartet of Bristol Beaufighters. These included the twin tailed prototype, a Merlin engined Mk II night fighter, a post war aircraft from Operation Firedog in Malaysia and a D-Day striped anti shipping version. A nice display covering the career of the type from first to, almost, last use of the type in RAF service. |
| Tony presented his very well finished 1:72 MiG 29 in Ukrainian markings (I should have included this in the E Europe section!) with digital camouflage applied by large and difficult decals. A really nice rendition of this “Ghost of Kyiv” inspired kit. |
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Bob, who we have become accustomed to thinking of as “Biplane Bob” has moved his modelling on a few decades with this very well built and weathered US Marines F4 Phantom. Ignoring the box’s all black scheme for the more conventional grey over white, Bob has used multiple shades of grey and panel line washes to capture the well worn look of an operational carrier based aircraft. |
| Moving on to work in progress.. Chris M has set up a veritable production line of 1:35 Chieftans covering a range of different marks. At least one is due to be finished in the very challenging “Berlin” scheme – hopefully she has ample masking tape to hand… Colin W has been persevering with his 1:600 Airfix HMS Victorious. 1:600 decals for the carrier’s air wing are proving elusive, and I think it’s fair to say that Colin, who always enjoys a challenging kit, would not rush to recommend this one… Nick brought along his long term F4 build – which had to be displayed upside down to avoid damaging the wheel-less undercarriage… It’s nearly done and will hopefully be complete for the next club gathering… Phil brought along his 1:48 Airfix (new tooling) Buccaneer painted in the very unusual colours applied for work with the Royal Aircraft Establishment where this airframe spent her entire working career. Like it or not, it certainly adds to the Bucanneer’s well known nickname: the banana. Tony also brought along his 1:48 Mustang that he is building to represent a post war version operated by NACA – a forerunner to NASA. The tail is taller than that on a conventional P51, and Tony has added plasticard to faithfully reproduce this feature. We look forward to seeing how the silver/natural metal finish goes! |
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This is also the first club night since we launched our 2023 Vintage Classics group build. Colin W has made a start on his 1:72 DHC Beaver.Also on the tables, unstarted, were another Beaver, a Jaguar 420, a landing craft with Sherman, a Mk IV tank and a Trident airliner. Don’t forget to photograph progress on your group builds for updates in the Newsletter… (Dont forget the website as well) |
