Homepage Text - September 2005

Friday,  Sept 30    2005    

QC Tan begins today with his 1/48 F-16 Thunderbird Ejection.  We've all seen the video of the ejection of the pilot from his Thunderbird F-16.....well here's a diorama of the event.  Very well done QC. 


Le Thanh Tung joins us with his beautifully finished  1/48 Tamiya A-1H Skyraider.   


Leonardo Novelli Krause is here with something a bit different and definitely attractive.  This is his 1/8 Rey Ayanami Resin Kit.  I can see the attraction of figure modelling.  


Tappie Scholtz has been busy with some "old school" modelling skills to super detail his 1/32 Hasegawa F6F-3 Hellcat.  Nice job Tappie.  


Vinny Ibarra and the modellers at IPMS-Philippines, Bert Anido  are here with a review of a test shot of the new 1/32 Trumpeter MiG-29M (kit No 02238)Thanks Vinny!!!


Ken Middleton is here with a review of the 1/48 & 1/72 F/A-18A - F-15A decal sheet with all procedds going to support the Katrina Relief  Fund from Two Bobs Aviation Graphics.  Good going Twobobs!!!  Thanks Ken!!! 


Steve Filak is here with a review of the 1/32 A-10 Super Detailed Instrument Panel from Cutting Edge ModelworksThanks Steve!!!   


Colin Kunkel is here with a review of the 1/72 & 1/48 RAAF F/A-18 decal sheet from Leading Edge ModelsThanks Colin!!!   

Thursday,  Sept 29    2005    

Bill Lachance begins today with his 1/48 Monogram P-61A Black Widow.  Bill is not scared off by older kits and this latest model is a treat for the eyes.  Bill has included cockpit photos in his article.


Raymond Chung is here with his first article on ARC.  This is Raymond's 1/32 Academy F-16CJ, which Raymond enjoyed building very much.  the finished model ended up looking very good.  Welcome to ARC Raymond!!!


Brian James Riedel joins us with his 1/48 Hasegawa Me-109F4-B that he built a while back.  Brian added some extra details to improve upon the kit details and to give him a very fine model.  


Gianmaria Corona has been busy building and detailing the 1/72 MPM Hawker Sea Hawk.  Although this isn't the best kit in the world.....Gianmaria build a beautiful model of this attractive British aircraft. 


Ken Middleton is here with a preview of the 1/48 F/A-18E/F Rockin' Rhinos #3 VFA-137/VFA-154 decal sheet from Two Bobs Aviation Graphics.


Steve Filak joins us with a review of the 1/32 resin F-14A Afghan War Update Set from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  


Gordon R. Page has a new book out called Warbird Recovery The Hunt for a Rare WWII Plane in Siberia, Russia.   Gordon had to deal with the KGB and Mafia and ultimately melted a historic plane out of a frozen lake in Russia.


Mike Williams is here with some of his Victor Walk Around photos.

Wednesday,  Sept 28    2005    
An ARC regular has sent me a couple of website links to assist you with preparing for disasters.  If you live in an area that is prone to a natural disaster....you may want to ponder some preparation.

Dan Duna is here to begin today with another of his scratchbuilt wonders.  This is his 1/72 Heinkel He1078A  complete in a bare metal finish.  Dan's ability to build these gems so quickly leave me in awe.

Colin Whitehouse joins us with his well done 1/48 Heller Mirage IV.  Colin gives some background on this one way nuclear bomber. 


Leonardo Novelli Krause joins us with a well written historical article about one of the valiant Polish pilots from WW2.  He has also included his 1/72 Revell P-51 Mustang III R.A.F. that was flown by this pilot.


Dean Large is here with a tiny little 1/144 Revell F-15 that he built for a friend.  Dean did an excellent job on this little beauty.....including darkening the panel lines. 


Steve Filak is here with a review of the 1/32 resin A-10 Exterior Detailing Set from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  Steve has included photos of all the parts and instruction sheets. 


Ken Middleton is here with a  preview of the soon to be released 1/48 F/A-18F Rockin' Rhinos #2 VFA-11/VFA-106   decal sheet from Two Bobs Aviation Graphics

Tuesday,  Sept 27    2005    

I'm using my new computer and it runs excellently.  I've still got a week or so of sorting to do before I'm back up to speed, but I can start up daily updates beginning today.  Thanks for your patience everyone.....it is much appreciated.


Franck Oudin begins today with his 1/48 Hasegawa P40-E.  Franck did his usual first class job on this P-40. 


Saad W. Qazi is here with a pair of jets.  These are his 1/48 Hasegawa Block 40 and Block 50 in Pakistani markings.  A good effort by Saad.


Nagy Tibor is here with a historical article about his 1/48 Academy Hungarian Me-109Ga-6.  This 109 was finished in Hungarian markings.....nice one Nagy. 


Denis A. Belyanin is here with his 1/72 Italeri Su-33 (Converted from Su-27B).  Denis went the "extra mile" on his kit to get the what he wanted. 


Ken Middleton is here with a preview of the new 1/48 F/A-18E Rockin' Rhinos #1 VFA-22/VFA-143 decal sheet from Two Bobs Aviation Graphics

Saturday,  Sept 24   2005        

Good news!!  The new custom built machine is installed and running like a dream.  I'm spending the weekend downloading a fresh copy of ARC to my hard drive in the new machine and setting up programs etc.  while the computer is downloading ARC......I'm busy in my workshop building various modifications to my ARC desk.  This desk is a big 4 sided desk 7' by 8' with a tiny gap to get to the centre and is made out of plywood and 2x4's.  As I evolve the design of the desk I will finally get it perfect.....then I plan to build a duplicate desk out of proper materials.  This is a evolution that will probably take another 6 to 12 months.  On Friday I built the 4th side to this monster desk to provide me with increased workspace and a possible workspace to build models with my daughters.  Today I'll be making a custom keyboard drawer and additional 2 drawers for my 2 scanners so they can get off the desk top and into slide out drawers under the desktop.  I also need to build a shelf unit to go above my monitors to hold such things as a printer and fax machine, but I doubt I'll get it all done today. 


Wednesday,  Sept 21   2005        

I bought  a computer off the shelf and began adding extra hardware to it 
(I bought a ready made machine in an effort to get up and running sooner).  This machine got slower and slower as I added the hardware and programs to make it capable of doing what I need to work on ARC.  After 4 days of mucking about with it, I had reached the point of having a completely useless new computer that was locking up constantly and was unable to even download e-mails.  The e-mail glitch  was due to the fact this was a returned machine......no wonder I got a "deal" on it.   I removed my extra hardware last night  and deleted all the programs and returned it.  I'm off to a different computer store this morning to get them to custom make me a machine.....this store builds for "gamers", so I'm confident they can meet my needs. 
Sorry for the delay everyone.


Friday,  Sept 15   2005        

My main hard drive on my ARC computer has stopped working.  As this is the 4th hard drive failure this year.......I will be looking into replacing my 5 year old      P-3 computer with a new custom built machine that I hope will be much more stable.  I have endured enough aggravation with this 5 year old computer.


Thursday,  Sept 15   2005          Battle of Britain Day  
  Costa Rica Independence Day                  El Salvador Independence Day 
  Guatemala Independence Day                 Honduras Independence Day
  Nicaragua Independence Day 

Chris Swingler starts this special Battle of Britain Day with his big  1/24 Airfix Spitfire Mk1a.  During the Summer of 1940, the RAF flew Mk 1 Spitfires much like this one. 


Dan Farnham starts today with his Battle of Britain 1/48 Tamiya Bf-109E-4.  Dan used the very nice Tamiya kit and ended up with a very well done replica of the 109's  in this epic battle.


Tolga Ulgur joins us with his beautifully done 1/48 Hasegawa F-86 Mk 4.  Tolga used some aftermarket items from Aires to add to the detail on his F-86 and then he finished it in RAF markings. 


Lior Bercu is here with his 1/48 Hasegawa British Phantom FGR Mk.2.  Lior did quite a bit of experimenting with new techniques he learned on ARC and this gavew him excellent results on his British Phantom. 


Karl W Branson joins us with his 1/72 Airfix Avro Vulcan B Mk2.  Karl did an outstanding job on his Vulcan and followed it up with equally well done photos.  


I have a review of the new English Electric Canberra Part 1 book from the On Target Profile series of books from Model Alliance Group.  This book features 104 colour profiles and colour photos of a variety of Canberras.


I have a review of the new 1/48 He-162 cockpit Interior set for Dragon kit from Griffon Model Accessories

Wednesday,  Sept 14   2005         

Hank Gruben is here with his big wild project of his Airshow Diorama in 1/144.  Nice one Hank....thanks for sharing!! 


Thomas Neuss joins us with his OUTSTANDING 1/72 Italeri HH-60H Rescue HawkIf this was 1/48...the detail level and quality of the weathering and painting would be very impressive....but to achieve this in 1/72 is amazing.  But Thomas is an outstanding modeller. 


Busolini Massimo is here with his 1/48 Trumpeter Mig-15utiBusolini went to extra effort to enhance the baremetal finish on his Mig and his efforts paid off.  He then finished in in markings for the Pakistani Air force. 


Eugene Trapezontas joins us from Grece with his 1/72 Academy A6M5 Zero.  Eugene has done a very effective job on his Zero complete with weathering.  


David Horn is here with a simple, cheap and VERY effective Sandpaper storage unit made from a container used for sorting pills for the older folks among us. 


I have a review of the new 1/48 P-39 Airacobra  Airacobra Cuties Part 1 decal sheet from  PYN-UP Decals.  This sheet includes markings for 2 P-39's with nude artwork including "Air A Cutie". 


I have a review of the new 1/48 P-47D Razorback painting masks from Plastic Model Club Montex   Available from Design & Marketing Int'l

Tuesday,  Sept 13   2005         

Pete Hudson (Dr Fester) begins today with a HUGE selection of photos of the 58 entries from the recent 2005 ARC PACAIR Group Build.  No doubt about it....this was a successful Group Build. 


Fabio M. Moretti is here with his 1/48 HasegawaAichi B7A1 Ryusei Prototype “Grace”.  This particular model is built mostly out of the box with some extra scratchbuilt detailing to improve the detail of the kit parts.  Fabio then finished his trainer with weathering. 


Hyuk-Jin Choi has dropped by with his very well done 1/48 Hasegawa F-16A NETZ IDF.  This model has some extra detailing including some resin parts from Aires and scratchbuilt detailing and was finished off with a beautifully done paint job. 


Jorge Bonilla joins us from Mexico with his 1/48 Monogram Spitfire Mk1.  Jorge finished his Spitfire in the markings of the famous Ace Douglas Bader.   


I have a review of the new 1/48 B-25 Mitchell Mitchell's Honeys Part 1 decal sheet from PYN-UP Decals.  This sheet features markings for 2 aircraft....both with sexy noseart.


I have a review of the new 1/48 Wheels for the Special Hobby Barracuda MkII from Griffon Model Accessories.  Just the thing you need for your Special Hobby Barracuda.


Steve Filak is here with a review 1/48 Wingfolds for the Hasegawa F/A-18 Legacy Hornet from 3rd Wire Models.  This new company produces a line of wing folds that is well worth checking out.  And they are designing more wingfolds.

Monday,  Sept 12   2005         

Rafi Ben-Shahar has been busy building his 1/48 Fairey Barracuda II.  This model is loaded with scratchbuilt details including a very nicely done wingfold.  Very cool. 


Dan Duna is here with another of his scratchbuilt wonders.  This is Dan's 1/72 Scratchbuilt Me-P1107.  Dan has included some info and in-progress photos.....the cockpit looks excellent.  


David Rapasi has built not one but two of the 1/48 Accurate Miniiatures SBU2 Vindicators and he joins us today with both of them.  Both paint schemes are quite different and include the usual high quality David is well known for here on ARC.   


Steve 'Cloggy' Cladingboel is here to show you his 1/48 Fujimi F-15J JASDF 50th Anniversary 306sqn 'Red Eagle'.  Steve built his F-15J with a resin seat and some modifications to get the details correct.  This model came in red plastic.....so painting must have be a challenge. 


I have a review of the 1/32 Fokker Dr.1 Part 1 decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  Thid sheet includes markings for 3 aircraft flown by Aces including the Red Baron's younger brother.


I have a review of the 1/32 Ki-84 Hayate painting masks from Plastic Model Club Montex.  This set includes painting masks for 2 complete aircraft....including the canopies.  This and other products are available from Design & Marketing Int'l

Sunday,  Sept 11   2005      4th Anniversary of the World Trade Center Attack

Darren McGuinness begins today with his 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1D Corsair.  Darren weathered his corsair and folded the wings and finally posed it on a diorama base to get a very well done display.   


Maxime Pidara joins us with a great looking 1/144 Revell Hawker Hunter.   This is one of those tiny 1/144 kit.....but that didn't stop Maxime from building a well detailed Hunter.

Saturday,  Sept 10   2005         

Duc Huy Nguyen begins today with his 1/72 Academy Focke Wulf 190D.  Huy enjoyed building his Fw-190 Dora and finished it in the markings for JV-44.  The finished model captures the look of the Dora very well.  


Michel Koster is here with his 1/32 Trumpeter A-10A Thunderbolt.  Michel used resin detail sets from Cutting Edge to detail his A-10 and followed that up with further scratchbuilt detailing.  All this work paid off with a fine looking A-10.

Friday,  Sept 9   2005                 Tajikistan National Day  
  Foundation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea  

I have 300 photos from last years Victoria Scale Modellers Show 2004The 2005 show is tomorrow....Saturday.  I will be there....Victoria, BC, Canada.....70 miles north of Seattle.  Go to their website for more info I hope to see you there.  


Marlon Guevara starts today with his  1/72 Academy F-86F 25.  Marlon did an outstanding job getting the panel shading to look like the real bare metal aircraft.  


Zdenek Ziegler joins us from the Czech Republic with his 1/48 Italeri Grumman F-14A Tomcat.  Zdenek weathered his F-14 and then finished it in the markings of VF-31 Tomcatters on the USS Forrestal.  The finished model came out looking very well.   


Ryan Cameron is here with his 1/48 Academy RCN T-33.  Ryan took the Academy kit and produced a well done brightly coloured Canadian T-33. 


Chip Harrison has sent in an interesting photo of a Ki-43? on a pole.  Anyone have more info on this Japanese plane on a pole?  


I have a review of the 1/32 Fokker Dr.1 Part 1 decal  sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.   This sheets includes a selection of nine of the Red Baron's Tri-planes.


I have a review of the 1/32 Le Curtiss H-75 dry transfer decal sheet decal sheet from Contact Resine This sheet is available from Design & Marketing Int'l.  


Steve Filak is here with a review of the 1/48, 1/72, 1/32 A-10 Dry Transfer Stencils1, Version 1 decal sheet from Hobby Decal.  This is yet another excellent dry transfer sheet from Hobby Decal.    

Thursday,  Sept 8   2005     First use of V-2 rocket lands Chiswick area of London (1944)

I will be attending The Victoria Scale Modellers annual show and contest this coming Saturday Sept 10.....Victoria, Canada is just north of Seattle.  Check their website for further info.  I hope some of you might attend the show.


Chris McKee starts today with his good looking 1/48 Airfix BAE Hawk.  Chris added a resin cockpit and had quite the difficult time with this kit as you'll read in his article.  


Armin Knes joins us with his 1/48 Special Hobby Mil Mi-1T.  This is a multi-media kit but Armin kept with it and managed to get this attractive model for his efforts.  


Charles Kalina is here with his article 1/72 Fujimi MiG-29 Fulcrum.  Charles began this kit when he was a member of the Baghdad hobby club and finally finished this little gem upon his arrival back home.  His MiG-29 is in Iraqi markings and represents one of the aircraft buried in the sand.


Hal Marshman has dropped by with his 1/48 Hasegawa Corsair AU-1.  Hal did his usual magic to finish his Corsair with some scratch built parts and resin wheels and his usual  lovely job of weathering.


Arne Goethe is here with his article 1/72 Revell Hawker Hunter F.MK.6.  Arne has included plenty of info about building his great looking Hunter. 


I have a review of the 1/32 Hawk 75 Part 2 decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  This sheet features 4 French Hawk 75's.


I have a review of the 1/48 resin Fuel Drum Type 2 from Griffon Model Accessories.  


Ken Middleton is here with a review of the 1/48 F-106A “Delta Darts Part 1” decal sheet from Eagle Strike Productions.  This sheet retails for $10.50, but is available for $8.50 through North American Hobbies at http://www.nahobbies.com/

Wednesday,  Sept 7   2005   Brazil Independence Day    Pakistan Air Force Day  

Kairasp Daruwala is here to honour the Pakistan Air Force Day with his 1/48 Trumpeter Mig-19 S Farmer C.   


Sergio Baptista is here with his article Some Wings from Brazil on honour of the Brazil Independence Day.  His article has a huge selection of Brazilian aircraft for you to enjoy. 


Rodney Williams is a well known master modeller on ARC and he's here with another of his beauties.  This is his 1/48 Hasegawa F-86E Sabre Jet finished decals from with Leading Edge Models. 


Michael Turk is here with his 1/48 Revell P-40.  Michael chose to build his P-40 out of the box and finished it in the attractive markings for the Flying Tigers in China.   


Joel N. Mendoza joins us from the Philippines with his 1/72 Hasegawa F-4S Phantom II.  Joel finished his F-4 out of the box in the attractive markings of the USN.  Nice one Joel.  


I have a review of the 1/32 Hawk75 Part 1 decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  This sheet features 6 different aircraft from Finland, Norway, The Netherlands and the RAF.


I have a review of the 1/32 detail set for Trumpeter MiG-3 from  Contact Resine.  This set and other Contact Resine products are available from Design & Marketing Int'l.

Tuesday,  Sept 6   2005              Swaziland National Day   

Eric Bade starts today with his fine looking 1/72 Hasegawa BAE Harrier GR5.  Eric used photo etch on the cockpit and did further detailing on his Harrier to get it more accurate.  His article talks about this kit and what he did to improve it.  


Rick Reinbott is here with his 1/48 Monogram P-51D Mustang.  Rick built his Mustang out of the box and recently added some weathering to it.  A good looking P-51 Rick.  


Dima Mudrakou joins us from Belarus with his 1/72 VES Su-15TM.  Dima did quite a bit of detailing to his Su-15TM to improve the detail of his model.  The finished model came out looking very good.... especially considering the fact this wasn't the best kit.


Andy Frill is here with his 1/48 Academy CH-46E Bullfrog. Andy added an interior from Cobra Company to further detail his CH-46E and then finished it off with weathering to get that perfect realistic look.

Monday,  Sept 5    2005                Labour Day Holiday

No update today.....I'm taking a break today and relaxing with my wife and kids.  I have found the News out of New Orleans during the past week to be emotionally exhausting for myself.  The big success today was my youngest daughter finally riding her 2 wheeler.  Removing the pedals from my 2 daughters bikes so they could get their balance permitted them to teach themselves to ride their bikes......I'm amazed how easy the process was.


Sunday,  Sept 4    2005      

Geoff Pereira starts today with his D-Day striped 1/48 Hasagawa P-47 Razorback.  Geoff went to great lengths in paint his P-47 to give it that realistic look and he was successful in his efforts.  


Eric Fauré has done an outstanding job on his 1/32 Revell Hunter FGA9.  Eric scratchbuilt so many details on his Hunter including full landing gear bay plumbing and a scratchbuilt ejection seat.  Quite amazing to see his photos.  

Saturday,  Sept 3    2005                     Qatar National Day  

Evgeny Dedigurov starts today with his 1/72 “Yakovlev  YaK-25 RW”.   Have a close look at the multi-panel bare metal paint job on this one.....it's very well done.


Björn Dol joins us from the Netherlands with his 1/48 Monogram AH-64A ApacheBjörn has tells about building his Apache and about what went well and what didn't go so well.  His efforts did eventually pay off with a good looking model. 

Friday,  Sept 2    2005            Vietnam Independence Day  

V-J Day   Japan surrenders in Tokyo Harbour

Duc Huy Nguyen is here from Vietnam on his country's  Independence Day with his first article on ARC.  This is his 1/72 Fujimi MiG 21 MF.  A beautifully done Mig-21 model. 


Le Thanh Tung is here from Vietnam on this sopecial day with his beautifully done 1/48 Academy Mig-21PF Fishbed VPAF.  This particular jet has quite the history from the Vietnam was and Tung tells about this in his article.   


Goran Kovacic is here with his first article on ARC today.  this is his 1/72 Revell F4u-5 Corsair.   Goran built his good looking Corsair out of the box and added weathering with the drybrushing technique.


Bill Weber joins us with his well done 1/32 Academy F/A-18 Hornet.   Bill used a very good technique for colouring the red and green lights on his Hornet......you can read about it in his article.


Hyuk-Jin Choi is here with his 1/48 Academy P-38J Lightning.  He used a cockpit set and did an outstanding job weathering his P-38 complete with chipped paint. 


Chris McKee has dropped by with his 1/48 JGMT Dassault Ouragan.  This is  aresin kit but that didn't stop Chris from turning out an excellent looking model of this Israeli jet.   


I have a review of the 1/48 B-17 Flying Fortress Part 2 decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  This sheet features markings for 2 different B-17's. 


I have a review of the 1/32 resin parts for the Avenger from Contact Resine.  This set is available from Design & Marketing Int'l.   


Steve Filak is here with a review of the 1/32, 1/48, 1/72 A-10 Dry Transfer Stencils from Hobbydecal

Thursday,  Sept 1  2005      Slovak Republic Constitution Day       

  Libya Independence Day    Uzbekistan National Day 

I've added a link to www.modelsitesi.com to the ARC links pages.  On there you will find photos from a recent  modeling exhibition and competition containing 30 categories, more than 650 models. Look for a link on their main page for this competition....top center of their homepage below the top banner.


Bill Arnold begins today with his Marx Toys Fred Flintstone-mobile.  As you may recall I recently had a picture of myself riding a 1/1 scale Fred Flintstone car and Bill figured it would be amusing for me to see a model he built of this famous car.    


Le Thanh Tung is here with his 1/32 Tamiya F-4J Phantom II.  Wow....the paint scheme on this one will blow your mind.  


Armin Knes joins us with his 1/48 Revell PBY-5A.  Armin did a stunning job painting his PBY.   


Dean Large is here with his 1/32 Revell F-16.  Dean scratchbuilt details and rescribed his F-16 to bring it up to the standards of other F-16 kits.  His efforts were well worth it as you'll see in his very finely done F-16.  


Tom Vrauko has dropped by with his 1/72 Supermodel Reggiane-Re2000.  Tom did some scratchbuilt details and finished his Re-2000 off ina  very colourful and complicated camo scheme.  He has also included history of this particular Re-2000.    


Randy Foo is here with his 1/72 Sukhoi Su-47 'Operational' Berkut.  Randy has done an outstanding job on this great looking aircraft model.  A treat to see.  His article includes lots of detail about his model.  


I have a review of the new 1/48 B-17 Flying Fortress Part 1 decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  This sheet features 3 different B-17's.