Beavering away

An older build from six years ago, this is the Airfix 1/72 DHC Beaver. Tooled in the late 70s, this is one of those really nice but often overlooked Airfix classics. True, there's not a lot of cockpit detail and it's covered in rivets, but it builds so well and really looks the part. I was attracted to this scheme by the dayglo panels, but having seen several of these flying in Harbour Air colors in Nanaimo and Victoria BC recently, I wouldn't mind doing a civilian floatplane version some day.

Greek Ghost

Special Hobby's Mirage 1/72 F.1 was greeted with excitement by jet modellers, as the long overdue replacement for the Airfix and Hasegawa 70s kits. The hype was largely justified, as the new kit has lots of fine detail and options, although I did encounter a few surprising fit issues. Finished in Greek camo.

Up with the Lark

No, I'd never heard of the SAI KZ VII Lærke, either. This is the 1/72 Stoppel kit of this Danish light utility aircraft. Despite the kit's short-run status it went together with no real problems at all, only the two-part canopy providing a bit of a challenge.

Percival's younger brother

Hot on the tail of the S&M piston-engined Provost was this build of the jet variant, the new-tool Airfix 1/72 Jet Provost JP.3. This was a pre-release version built for Airfix Model World mag so there were no decals, but fortunately Xtradecals had just released their set for the kit. The build itself was simple and straightforward enough, with just a couple of glitches and omissions, mainly the various intakes on the fuselage spine and the spurious centre-frame on the canopy which had to be removed. Great little kit though, I really enjoyed it.

Hunting in Malaysia

I'd never heard of S&M Models until Airfix Model World magazine asked me to build this kit. After decades, finally a replacement for the venerable Matchbox 1/72 Percival-Hunting Provost. It was a joy to build, well detailed with good fit (although the three-piece canopy was a bit fiddly). Malaysian markings were one of the options on the decal sheet but I modified the scheme to represent a different aircraft, which required new serials and the checkerboard cowling and fuselage band.

Boxcar Blues

Roden produce kits of some of the most interesting subjects around, and I jumped at the opportunity to add the C-119 to my 1/144 collection. Unfortunately the quality of Roden's kits often lets them down, and such was the case with this model. The surface of the plastic was very rough (so much so that I could have used one fuselage half as a sanding block) and the fit of the tail booms was also 'challenging'. But, it's done and on the shelf.

Avia biplane

RS Models 1/72 Avia Ba.122 in Czech aerobatic colours.