Newbury Scale Model Club » News

Custom decal artwork archive

Ian Shumsky — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:27:44 +0000

Richard Caruana has made a available some of his own custom made decal designs which you can download, print and use on your models. Head over to the Decal Artwork Archive to see what Richard has to offer. To make your own decals, you will need a printer and some decal paper (such as this from Crafty Computer Paper) and then follow the simple actions as laid out in this step-by-step guide.

Eduard’s July magazine is available

Ian Shumsky — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:18:44 +0000

It may have taken a little time to complete the translation for the English edition of Eduard’s new-style ‘digital’ monthly magazine, but it is now feely available in PDF format for you to download. This month’s issue is full of news of all Eduard’s latest kits and accessories, as well as providing details of future projects. The main article is a detailed study of the Fw 190 A-8/R2 Sturmbock heavy fighter which includes many useful pictures and prints. Head over to Eduard’s website to download the July magazine (Volume 10, Issue 6).

Canadian CF-18 pilot has a lucky escape

Ian Shumsky — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:21:17 +0000

Canadian Air Force pilot Captain Brian Bews got a little more than he bargained for when practising for an airshow at Lethbridge airport in Alberta. After losing control of his aircraft, Captain Bews was able to eject seconds before the plane hit the ground. Ground staff managed to capture the crash on film and it has since been doing the rounds. If you have not seen it, have a look below!

Painted Mil Mi-24 Hind

Admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:50:19 +0000

Bill Gregory has passed on some remarkable photos of a fantastically painted Mil Mi-24 Hind. Since 1978, around 2,000 Mi-24s have been manufactured, some 600 of which were for export. As such, there are 60 different countries currently deploying these aircraft, including the USA. Have a look at the photos below.

If you fancy building something like this yourself, there is a Hasegawa 1/72 Mi-24 Hind ‘Hungarian Air Force Special’ which could soak up all your decal softening and setting solutions:

Model magazine references list

NSMC Secretary — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:44:56 +0000

John Loughman of Australia has been compiling a list of model magazine references for the last 30 years. The list now has around 19,000 entries, covering several thousand publications. John has published his list in Excel format and kindly offered to share it with the modelling community. The file is available for a free download from http://www.suisoft.co.uk/kitbase/datafiles.htm

The file is currently hosted by Suisoft, an independent IT company. Suisoft offer a number of software products, including KitBase, a database designed for scale model builders, collectors and enthusiasts. KitBase records your kits in a structured way so that you can keep track of them using interactive filtering, sorting and printed reports. Long term, Suisoft plan to include a separate references table within the KitBase product along with an Excel compatible import facility allowing the user to cross reference their kits to articles.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

NSMC Secretary — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:23:36 +0000

70 years ago, on 10 July 1940, the German Luftwaffe bombed London and south east England starting what was later to be called the Battle of Britain. Some 3,000 British airmen fought back and prevented a possible invasion. In a famous speech, Winston Churchill later said of their actions: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date. From July 1940 coastal shipping convoys and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth were the main targets; one month later the Luftwaffe shifted its attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. As the battle progressed the Luftwaffe also targeted aircraft factories and ground infrastructure. Eventually the Luftwaffe resorted to attacking areas of political significance and using terror bombing tactics.

SBX Model Shop are offering a 5% discount on all sales

Ian Shumsky — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:08:27 +0000

On-line model retailer SBX Model Shop are offering a 5% discount on all items available through their web site, valid until at least 31st July. On top of this they are also offering an whopping 15% off all Iwata items including airbrushes, compressors and combination packs. SBX also offer free shipping on all purchases over £6!

I have used these guys a lot for model and sundry purchases and while not always the cheapest their dispatch time and customer support are second to none. I highly recommend them!

Completed Airfix 1/24 scale Mosquito

Ian Shumsky — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:20:46 +0000

I know many of you have been thinking about buying and building Airfix’s 1/24 scale Mosquito, but have been put off by the fact that it is an Airfix kit! For those wanting to see what can be done with the model, Mark Simmons has been documenting his build of one over on the Military Modelling website. He has now finally finished the kit — have a look at the pictures of the impressive finished model, or check out the build steps in Mark’s Blog, both on the Military Modelling site.

Mosquito

Andrea Miniatures tutorials

Ian Shumsky — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:30:56 +0000

As well as announcing a new figure for May, scale figure maker Andrea Miniatures have also added a new tutorial section to their website where you can download painting and diorama construction guides (in pdf format) and view YouTube videos of specific techniques. While the articles plug Andrea Miniatures’ own range of products, the techniques discussed will be relevant to most modellers. Head over to their website to access the tutorials and see their latest releases.

70 years ago today…

NSMC Secretary — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:15:01 +0000

70 years ago today, on 27th May 1940, Operation Dynamo began. Over a 9 day period a total of 338,226 troops were evacuated from the beaches and harbour at Dunkirk. The rescue started slowly with only 7,669 personnel evacuated from the harbour on the 27th, but the rate sped up significantly as a flotilla of around 850 ships of all sizes joined in the effort.

Many of the troops were able to embark directly from Dunkirk Harbour onto 42 British destroyers and other large ships, while others had to wade from the beaches toward the ships, waiting for hours to board, shoulder-deep in water. Others were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships, and thousands were carried back to England by the 700 or so merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats quickly assembled for the evacuation. The smallest of these was the 15-foot fishing boat Tamzine, now on display at the Imperial War Museum.

The BBC has an audio slide-show of the rescue and a detailed history is available at Wikipedia.

Scratch-built 1/5 scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I

Ian Shumsky — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:11:23 +0000

Ian Bartlett has passed on some amazing photos of a scratch-built 1/5 scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I. This massively impressive model was built by David Glen over 11 years and should act an an inspiration to us all! Check out David’s description of his project over at HyperScale, or have a look at the photos below.

Airfix sale!

Ian Shumsky — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:15:58 +0000

Airfix are currently holding an on-line sale with a fair number of kits reduced by 50% or more. Have a look on the Airfix Sale page for more details.