22 A Blue Impulse
Hasegawa 1/72 T-4 Blue
Impulse 2017 Markings
by Jonathan Davies30 Full-On Phantom
Jay Blakemore Strays from
His Comfort Zone with a
Quick Build of Zoukei-Mura’s
1/48 F4-C Phantom IIA
fter I returned from the
US Nationals I suffered
a bit of a modelling
block, which was very strange
because just a week before I
left for Phoenix I had finished
a total refurbishment of my
loft workshop. For the first
time in years it was beautifully
clean and tidy, with all my tools
in the right drawers, all my
airbrushes cleaned and ready
to go, and all my models nicely
audited so I knew exactly what
I had and where it was stored.
But no matter how hard I
tried inspiration failed me; I
took out at least twenty kits,
in all different scales. I got all
the sprues out, looked at what
detail sets and decals I had, and
then put them back into the box
and carefully back into storage.
Even a visit to my local library
to peruse the aviation section
and trips to RAF Hendon andDuxford also failed to inspire me.
So, as in years past it was
my model club that got me back
modelling. Every month we have
a small competition; as well as
normal themes like aircraft,
armour, and ships, we usually
have a theme, and this year it is
continents. Africa, Asia, and the
Americas will all feature over
the next few months. But – I am
well known for seeing exactly
how far I can push the rules!
So with Africa night looming
I looked at one of my purchases
from the US Nationals and
wondered how I could get it into
the competition. Sometimes the
simple answer to my modelling
block is to build something
outside of my normal aviation
interests. Now I must confess I
am also a bit of a Sci-Fi geek and
have gathered a number of 1/
Star Trek models over the years,
and in America, I purchasedthe new Moebius kit of the USS
Franklin from the recent Star
Trek: Edge of Darkness. This is
quite a small model compared
to other 1/350 models, and as it
is mainly in shades of natural
metals I could use Alclad.
All in all, this was a very
pleasant and quick build,
taking two weeks from start
to finish and it worked...I was
revived. The arrival of two
new kits from Zoukei Mura
and Airfix immediately got my
juices flowing and I was back
modelling aircraft again.
So, if you get modeller’s
block, maybe the answer lies
in building something totally
out of your normal field of
interest, and you may learn a
new technique that you can apply
to your aircraft modelling. So
give it a try; it worked for me!
Enjoy your latest magazine and
may all your models be fun ones.Q
: So how does the USS
Franklin get into the
Africa competition?A
: Franklin is, as I am sure you
know, a town in the KwaZulu-
Natal province of South Africa- which of course is what the
Starship USS Franklin was named
after. Or at least it was in my
version of the Star Trek Universe.
I told you I pushed the rules.
David Francis, Editor
[email protected]Subscribe
see page 284 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
WELCOME
Scale Aviation Modeller International
October 2018 • Volume 24 • Issue 10004-05-Contents-1018.indd 4 14/09/2018 15: