I have been assembling and painting model aircraft ever since I was a teenager and my parents bought me one for a Christmas gift. Early on I decided it would be a good idea to keep my collection in the same scale so I could easily compare aircraft sizes and features. At the start I was only interested in WWII aircraft types and didn't venture into jet types.
By the 1980's I got interested in jet aircraft as well, as Canada was going through the selecting process of its new fighter, the CF-18. This was closely followed by my delving into aspects of the Vietnam War and types flown in this conflict quickly gained my interest as well. My build collection now spans WWII era almost up to present day. I have many examples flown by Canadian crews over the years and a substantial number of USAF and USN /USMC types as well.
Initially I built for fun, often making kits with fictitious markings and taking liberties with the paint schemes. That all changed after I brought an example of my recently completed Hawker Typhoon IB into my father's retail store. As it happened, that day a gentleman (I believe his name was Harry Lucas) came into the store and upon seeing my kit, he commented that he did not recognize the aircraft's squadron codes. I explained that I had just made them up, to which he politely added that the camouflage pattern was not accurate either. Suitably impressed, I asked him how he knew all this at a mere glance... "I flew them during WWII" he replied. Gobsmacked with the realization that this hobby wasn't just about some neat looking aircraft you could assemble and paint, but one that could encompass history and persons intricately involved with these machines, I set a new course. My model builds would now focus on being more replicas of historic aircraft and in many cases would serve as a small tribute to those tied to its history.
I produced mostly museum examples (with little if any weathering) for display after this shift and much later got involved in suitably weathering my aircraft builds. Amazingly most of the model aircraft that I have built over time, still exist in my collection today. Some serve as a reminder of how my skills and patience have progressed over time and every kit is a less-than-perfect example of this learning process. Most of my aircraft are on display in multiple shelving units with clear-front doors (to keep the dust out). Now that the kids have all grown up and moved out, my growing collection has been allowed to take over the entire basement area. Now referred to as The Hangar it is home base to over 260 1/48th scale aircraft kits.
My goal with this website is to eventually get decent photos of most of these aircraft builds and post them here as a one-stop organized public place to view these creations. That goal quickly expanded to provide a brief article about each kit build, to hopefully give the audience something interesting to read about each of my kit adventures.
Below is my list of the 1/48th scale kits that I have built over the past four+ decades. Click on a listed aircraft link to take you to that aircraft's page (if it has been posted to date).
If you are already a model builder or a fledging one, let's hope something here keeps you inspired and/or entertained.
If you want to follow along on Social Media, you can look me up at:
Twitter - @PlaneThought41
Bluesky - @flypastrush.bsky.social
Mastodon - @FlyPastRush@mstdn.ca
Also if you are a model maker you should check out Scalemates as well as iModeler as they are both great sites with a lot of information on model building and supplies. (I am on these sites as Fly Past Rush as well).
Aircraft Type Completed Mfg.Code
Hurricane IIC Mar-79 Monogram
A-7A Corsair II Dec-83 Monogram 5418
Ju 87G Dec-83 Monogram 6840
F-100D Super Sabre Jan-85 Monogram 5416
F-104 Starfighter May-85 Monogram 5409
A6M5 Zero Jan-87 Monogram 6799
P-51B Mustang Apr-87 Monogram 6806
UH-1C Huey Hog Apr-87 Monogram 5201
F-104 Starfighter Jul-87 Monogram 5409
F-20 Tigershark Dec-87 Monogram 5445
A-10A Warthog Mar-88 Revell 4503
F-5E Tiger II Mar-88 Monogram 5407
F-5E Tiger II Mar-88 Monogram 5407
F-5E Tiger II Mar-88 Monogram 5407
F-16A Falcon Apr-88 Monogram 5401
Fw 190A Dec-98 Monogram 6804
F-100D Super Sabre Jun-03 Monogram 5416
P-47D Thunderbolt Jun-03 Monogram 6838
Spitfire Mk II Sep-03 Revell H-32
Typhoon 1B Sep-03 Monogram 5303
P-51D Mustang Dec-03 Monogram 5207
Bf 109G-6 Apr-04 Otaki OT2 25
Bf 109G-6 Apr-04 Hobbycraft 1541
MiG-21 Aug-05 Revell 4765
Cessna 172P Skyhawk Dec-05 Minicraft 48004
Yak-1 Feb-06 Accurate Miniatures 3424
Yak-7DI/Yak-9 Feb-06 ICM 48041
Ju 88C Dec-06 Hobbycraft 1605
MiG-27 Apr-09 Hobbycraft 1599
MiG-15 bis Aug-09 Tamiya 02806
Yak-3 Jun-10 Eduard 8456
Yak-7B Jun-10 ICM 48035
Yak-9T Jun-10 ICM 48012
T-33A Shooting Star Jul-10 Academy 2185
F2A-1 Brewster Buffalo May-11 Tamiya 61031
La-5 Oct-11 Hobbycraft 1589
La-7 Oct-11 Hobbycraft 1590
Yak-9K Oct-11 ICM 48011
CF-105 Dec-11 Hobbycraft
Fairey Battle Dec-12 Classic Airframes 428
SU-25 Frogfoot (T-8-15) Dec-12 Monogram 5830
AV-8A Harrier Mar-13 Monogram 5420
SBD-3 Dauntless Oct-14 Hasegawa 9119
IL-2m3 Stormovik Oct-17 Accurate Miniatures 3407
CH-126 Choctaw (H-34) Dec-21 Gallery Models 64103
Note: I only build 1/48th scale aircraft (so my collection is all in comparative size), therefore all aircraft kits listed above are in this scale.
I will come back and revisit this post as I have built some of these model kits and still have more in my collection of unbuilt model kits.
What's your Mastadon handle? I lost my old account, so I've set up a new one (again, November Man) and I'm trying to reconnect with my model building buddies (even though I'm not getting any building done).
-