I love aviation, more specifically military aviation and want some scale models to decorate my office.

I see model kits that people put together that are incredibly realistic looking, but I don't have the patience or skill to be gluing and painting models.

What are some brands that are known for their quality whether plastic molded, 3d printed, or die cast I don't mind. I would even be ok with putting together a model as long as the parts snap together.

As a kid I have vivid memories of walking up and down the aisles of Toys R US looking at models. My parents tried hard but money was always tight so it was either "that's too complicated" or "this is a looking trip". Now that I'm the ripe age of 41 I've decided to finally take the plunge. This is incredibly hard! But also very rewarding. As an avid F1 fan I have decided my first model will be the Surtees TS16/03 from the 70's. I keep going back and forth on painting techniques... prime the whole body once it's all glued and then paint or paint pieces, sand, and cement. Anyways, here is my engine block. It's definitely not aligned the way it's supposed to be but trying my best. Looking forward to learning from you all.

Stinson.

In this video, I perform full re-riveting over shallow kit surface details, fine-tune the spine part fit, align the flap actuators, and carefully drill the oval gun muzzle hole. I also demonstrate gradation painting on the pilot figure's visor, precise canopy parting line sanding and compounding, and scratch-building the missing modern launcher using plastic sheets.

Watch this episode here 👉Ep.04

Four bases. Zero aircraft. Unlimited possibilities!

From Cold War jets to modern fighters, these four 1/48 scale airfield bases are ready for action!

Inspired by real military airfields, each one has its own character, details and atmosphere.

All they need now is a fighter jet and a pilot who knows how to park!

Hello,

Has anyone tried to dry a painted model inside a 3d printer that has a heater?

I'm curios if this would work instead of a dehydrator, 50C enclosure temp, no bedplate temp, moving the air inside with the fans slowly, OR even this low temp would warp the body of something like a car?

My Revell Bell X-1 „Glamorous Glennis“ in 1:32.
Chuck Yeager writes history on October 14th in 1947.

Lighting Kit from Round2 polar Lights

Aztec Masks from AztecDummy

Acrylic Lacquer Paints from SMS (Scalemodeller.com.au)

Photoetch from Green Strawberry

Specifically tanks model.

What do i need? I want to paint and weather them.

I have experience straight building gundam. Minor coloring and panel lining.

My dream since junior high finally has come true

It works. Really, REALLY WELL. A 1:1/4th ratio thins the gloopy paint really well for some reason, and it dries to a nice matte finish quite quickly. Probably more expensive than water or dedicated acrylic thinners but it works quite well for something youre not supposed to use.

This kit was amazing. The blue sprue and flawless mold of the chassis were just the start. It just went together so nicely, I want to build another one.

Given the size, I built it in modules (forward/aft fuselage, intakes, and wings). This meant completing the build and painting each module, then assembling them (I cut notches in the wings to allow adding after painting, and the fuselage was finished). Overall, this worked well except for the main joint over the port intake/aft fuselage join and the fragile pins on the horizontal stabs, which I replaced with brass rod. Despite all the dry-fitting, when I finally mounted the forward assembly (forward fuselage and intakes) to the aft assembly, I ended up with about a 1/32” gap on top of the port intake-aft fuselage joint, which I closed with stretched sprue and will carefully sand and repaint. Overall assembly has been OK; I had trouble closing the nose in the cockpit area, and I was disappointed that a closed bomb-bay door option wasn't available (so I built it open anyway and displayed a rotary launcher with Kh-15 missiles). I’ll still display with the preferred 2x Kh-22 anti-ship missile config.
Next: complete the gap fill and intake repairs, finish detailing and mounting the Landing gear, and finish painting and detailing the Kh-22 ASMs.

The museum I volunteer for recently had a large scale (1/6?) m4 Sherman donated to us. When we were moving it, we thought it would roll easily but instead several links basically shattered (age/heat?).

I could have cried.

Does anyone know of a source for tracks/track links, and especially how would I determine the correct scale for this beastie?

I can get more photos but this is what I have right now.

This was built for the ACTSMS kittyhawk cup for the 2026 annual competition. The kit had nice detail with included PE and masks. I did have some issues with fitment of a few parts, mainly the cockpit and the landing gear bay. This was my first time chipping and adding streaks of oil and such. I didn't have any oil paints on hand so I used an AK wash in a similar fashion. I'm pretty happy with the final result. Any constructive criticism is appreciated! (if some of the photos have anomalies that is due to photo stacking in photoshop playing up, eg. the tail in the second photo)

when i made the T54E1 i lost the barrel so i improvised

I, for some reason, decided to add the weapon hard points as an afterthought. Don't ask, I don't know why, it's done now. Started out shooting the base coat in Vallejo model air metallic aluminum, but it looked grainy, so I reshot it in Chrome. It's still a bit grainy looking but less so, and the overall tone looks better. I'm still not overly happy with the results of the color. I broke the radio aerial off AGAIN in the process, this time I'm leaving it off. I'll chalk it up as part of the learning curve and move forward to the next stage, masking the upper fuselage for the green and the lower fuselage for the gray stainless steel panels that cover the exhaust running underneath. Since I've not masked over a painted area, does anyone have suggestions/recommendations on how to achieve this without removing paint afterward? I'd appreciate any info on how. Thanks!

Anyone ever tried mixing camo mask layers? For example first layer of cloud second of digital ? I ask cause I’m doing a zgok Gundam and ran out of cloud camo dspiae mask but I have lots of digital and hex but the whole idea seems ridiculous.

Perry Miniatures Desert Rats Featured at the Salute Perry North Africa Diorama

Once upon a time I painted up some plastic Perry Miniatures WWII North African theatre brits for a diorama Michael Perry was putting together for Salute.....

Link to more pictures and details

I've mainly worked with traditional scale modeling: acrylics, airbrush, 1:32/1:48 models, even some larger 1:8 figures. I've been enviously watching the blends and effects that can be had by using speed paints but I always seem them being used with miniatures. Has anyone used Speed Paints for larger figures?

This was definitely one of the most challenging kits I’ve worked on so far. The fit wasn’t great, so I spent quite a bit of time fixing gaps, removing alignment pins, filling seams, and sanding everything down. I also stripped the original chrome plating and repainted the metallic parts with Tamiya LP-11 Silver. The yellow is a custom mix of Tamiya Lemon Yellow and Orange.

The painting process turned into an adventure of its own. I had some frustrating issues with masking tape damaging the finish, which meant sanding and repainting several areas more than once. Eventually, I managed to get everything looking the way I wanted. I finished it off with panel lining, decals, and some subtle weathering around the engines. It’s far from perfect, but considering everything this kit put me through, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out