rickshaw

I am unsure why you are so anti-top mounted missiles. Mounting them where they are is actually quite a good idea. It makes sure they have the best field of view in a turning fight. The idea was resurrected for the Jaguar and it worked quite well. One of the problems with mounting them down low is that the missile's seeker is blanked out by the canard when the aircraft is turning towards the target. Not a good idea at all. Low mounting might be more convenient but it comes with it's inherent problems. Much better to leave the missiles where they are.

Didn't Academy reissue the Hobbycraft kit? Yes, they did, according to Scalemates.

High Planes does a set of Canberra intakes, both big and small cartridge starters

What scale? Basically a B.6 would be the same the B.2 in `1/72

The Revel kit is more accurate than the Trumpeter one.

I stand corrected. I obviously didn't use the search function. Now I've done that, I've found what kits are available. I recently purchased a T.4 nose in resin by Heritage. Looks good.

It is should be just a rebadged and re-marked Canberra B.2... If you are going to be working on the D, I would recommend you insert a spar. The wings are really too heavy for insert. You will also need a load of weight in the nose to compensate for the weight of the wings.

No, they don't. Actually, just perusing their website suggests they no longer produce any Canberra variants. They did do a B-57A and a B-57D/E. You can make a B from the D fuselage with a new set of wings.

It seems then, that most of your moans are just that, moans. You can never please everybody 100% of the time. For me, the High Planes kits are a little more expensive than an Airfix run-of-the-mill kit. I enjoy them. They are challenging but not excessively so. A B.2 or a T.4 would be adequate.

I am constantly surprised that manufacturers don't put a little bit of thought into their moulds. With the Canberra you'd start with a B.2 and then move onto a PR.3 and then to a B.6 and then a B(I)8 and then to a PR.9. You could then branch off to the B-57 series. All you need is an interchangeable nose and wings. High Planes do a B-57 BTW.

It is very much horses for courses. Downunder, High Planes were once locally manufactured and then they moved to Singapore. They are still available easily through this magic thing called the Internet. I am constantly surprised how resistant British modellers are to using it to order models. Yes, as I mentioned, they need some extra work compared to most modern kits. However, that shouldn't deter most modellers. We have come a long way since the days of sanding balsa blocks. All that is needed is a bit of effort and some filler. Give it a go. You might be surprised that with a little effort you can get quite a good result.

I wonder why everybody ignores the High Planes range of Canberras? They are IMO the best shape and best detailed models out there. Yes, they require a little more work but apart from that they are quite rewarding in their outcome if care is taken. I have built the B.2, B.6, B-57B/D and various versions of them. They are IMO the bees knees. I found the Matchbox PR.9 undernourished, the Airfix B.2/B.20 overfed and Frog ones were OK. Mach 2 isn't worth mentioning.

Nothing for Linux users? Oh, dear...

The Takom kit is available on EvilBay.

The Royal Navy and the Trent Powered Meteor In 1945, desperate to get a jet powered aircraft aboard their carriers, the Lords of the Admiralty undertook trials with a Meteor I it was used for deck-handling tests aboard aircraft carrier HMS Pretoria Castle in late 1944. Flown by Captain Eric "Winkle” Brown in March 1945, a hooked Meteor III made the first jet landing and take off from an aircraft carrier on HMS Ocean. The results from these trials were such that they decided to order 200 Meteor IVs, a version which utilised the Derwent V engine. This new engine provided 3,500lb of thrust, a 50% increase on the power offered by the Derwent IV used in later Meteor IIIs. The result was a sprightly improvement in the Meteor III's desultory performance. The first Meteor IV prototype took to the air on 15 August 1945 and the test programme went so smoothly that it entered RN FAA squadron service on 1 June 1946, just in time to sail onboard HMS Illustrious to the Far East to take part in the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. Able to carry 2,000lbs under each wing, armed with rockets or bombs and its 4 20mm cannon, the Meteor IV proved a considerable success both as a fighter-bomber and a fighter against the Japanese Kamikaze planes deployed against the Allied fleet off Japan. However what isn’t known was that a flight of four Trent Turbo-prop powered Meteors also took part in the attack on the Japanese home islands. Equipped with two Trent engines, the Trent Meteor had a longer range and only a slightly lower speed than the normal Derwent powered versions. It could also carry the same load. The newly developed RB.50 Trent propeller-turbine, or turboprop. Such a powerplant seemed to offer many of the advantages of turbine power (relative simplicity, high power and lack of vibration) combined with the proven capabilities of the propeller (high aerodynamic efficiency even up to quite high Mach numbers). Rolls-Royce therefore began to develop the experimental Trent in May 1944, using as the basis of the engine the centrifugal-flow Derwent turbojet which was to power the F.3 and later marks of the Meteor. The Trent-Meteor needed little modification for the accommodation of the Trent powerplant, though the nacelles were somewhat larger, which, with the extra side area of the propellers, entailed the fitting of two small auxiliary fins towards the outboard ends of the tailplane to ensure directional stability. The Gloster Trent-Meteor first flew on September 20, 1945 and thereafter contributed greatly to the development of turbine engines as pure turbojets and as turboprops. In its first form, the Trent-Meteor was fitted with five-blade Rotol propellers, each having a diameter of 2.41m, though some reports claim a propeller with a diameter of 2.31m absorbing 750hp and leaving 454kg of residual thrust. Later, the aircraft was modified to accommodate propellers with a diameter of 1.49m, absorbing only 350hp and leaving a residual thrust of 635kg to emerge from a squeezed orifice. It had a range of over 590 miles as against the Meteor IV’s of 510 miles, with a top speed of 598 mph versus 580 mph of the Mk.IV. The Trent engined Meteors were definitely an experimental aircraft with the pilot needing to juggle the controls between the thrust and the propeller setting. The Royal Navy was interested in them because of needing a replacement for their propeller powered aircraft in the strike role and decided to try them out in an operational test. The Fleet Air Arm found that only their most expert pilots could manage the juggling act and land the aircraft onto the carriers. So, they were sent. Four of the most expert pilots, including Eric “Winkle” Brown, who led the flight. Equipped with bombs or rockets and four 20mm cannons the aircraft were near equal of the jet powered Meteor IVs which they accompanied to the far east. They failed to encounter any Japanese aircraft over Japan but they impressed the US Navy who arranged for a test flight on their return through the Panama Canal and the visit to Patuxent River Naval Base. The Kit The kit is the 1/72 MPM Trent Meteor. It was an interesting build. For some strange reason the undercarriage is misaligned with one leg ending up more forward than the other. Doesn’t distract from the model but it is, well, “odd”. I intended to arm it with 60 lb rockets but their really isn’t enough room and be able to paint the invasion stripes and put the markings on it. Oh, well, another time. Paint is Vallejo and Tamiya with a hairy stick. Decals from Kit Speckman Enterprises.

The Chengdu J-10 in Indonesian Service In 1965, when the Communist Party of Indonesia overthrew the Sukarno Government and created the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Indonesia (PDRI) under President Untung bin Syamsuri who had lead the Revolution on 30 September 1965. He replaced President Sukarno soon afterwards. The Indonesian Air Force, became a largely Soviet equipped one. When the Soviet Union dissolved at the end of the Cold War Indonesia was left without a backer. They turned to China. China was quite prepared to support Indonesia. The first Chinese aircraft that the Indonesians received was the Shenyang J-8, a Chinese version of the MiG-21, with two engines. Twin Guizhou WP-13B, a version of the Tumansky R-13, rated at 10,580 lbf thrust dry, 15,430 lbf with afterburner. This however was only a stop gap while more modern equipment was being developed. Indonesia received its first example of the Chengdu J-10 its successor in 2008. The J-10 is a modern, lightweight fighter-bomber. the airframe's aerodynamic layout adopts a "tail-less canard delta" wing configuration. A large delta wing is mid-mounted towards the rear of the fuselage, while a pair of canards (or foreplanes) are mounted higher up and towards the front of the fuselage, behind and below the cockpit. This configuration provides very high agility, especially at low speeds, and also reduces stall speed, allowing for a lower airspeed during instrument approaches. A large vertical tail is present on top of the fuselage and small ventral fins underneath the fuselage provide further stability. A large rectangular air intake is located underneath the fuselage, providing the air supply to the engine. Newer variants use a diverterless intake that does not require a splitter plate, and may reduce radar cross signature. Also under the fuselage and wings are 11 hardpoints, used for carrying various types of weaponry and drop-tanks containing extra fuel. It is armed with internal armament consisting of a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barrel cannon, located underneath the port side of the intake. Other weaponry and equipment is mounted externally on 11 hardpoints, to which 6,000 kg (13,228 lb) of either missiles and bombs, drop-tanks containing fuel, or other equipment such as avionics pods can be attached. Air-to-air missiles deployed may include short-range air-to-air missiles such as the PL-8 and PL-10 (on J-10C), medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missiles such as the PL-12 and PL-15 (on J-10C), unguided and precision guided munitions such as laser-guided bombs, air-to-surface missile such as KD-88,[30] anti-ship missiles such as the YJ-91A[30] and anti-radiation missiles such as the YJ-91. The Kit The kit is the Trumpeter 1/72 scale kit. Painted with a rattlecan. Decals by Kit Speckman Enterprises.

The Nakajima Ki-87 The Heinkel He 119 was an experimental single-propeller monoplane with two coupled engines, developed in Germany. A private venture by Heinkel to test radical ideas by the Günter brothers, the He 119 was originally intended to act as an unarmed reconnaissance bomber capable of eluding all fighters due to its high performance. Developed to utilise the combine engine of the Daimler-Benz DB601 engines mounted above the wing centre-section within the fuselage, mounted together within a common mount (the starboard component engine having a "mirror-image" centrifugal supercharger) with a common gear reduction unit fitted to the front ends of each component engine, forming a drive unit known as the DB606, the first German aircraft to use the "high-power" powerplant system. meant to provide German aircraft with an aviation powerplant design of over-1,500 kW (2,000 PS) output capability, but weighing 1.5 tonnes apiece. The aircraft featured a revolutionary evaporative cooling system as well, with radiators under the skin of the wing, cooled by the normal airflow. However, this really wasn’t sufficient as was found with the V1 prototype, so a retractable radiator of conventional form was added under the fuselage. Heinkel developed the aircraft but the ReichsLuftministen had no interest in. Heinkel developed several record breaking versions of the aircraft both as land and float plane based versions. However, they failed to achieve their records. Japan however was interested in acquiring new technology and purchased two versions of the He119, the V7 and the V8 in 1940. The Imperial Japanese Army gave them to the Nakajima combine with instructions to study them and develop their own versions. Nakajima already had licence rights to produce the DB601 engine so the DB606 was quite within their reach. What the Imperial Japanese Army didn’t like that much was the evaporative cooling system but accepted that was what made the He119 a world beater when combined with it’s power plant. They also didn’t like that the aircraft was unarmed and insisted a tail turret be incorporated in it’s design. The result was the Nakajima Ki-87, a medium sized reconnaissance bomber able to match the performance of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Mitsubishi Ki-46. Problems became however apparent when the aircraft was introduced into limited service in late 1941. In theory it could fly higher, faster than most Allied fighters at that point in the war. The engines however were unreliable and rarely managed to produce their rated power. The turret was so cramped that only the smallest airman could be accommodated. The evaporative cooling system actually proved relatively simple and troublefree. The aircraft only saw limited service as a consequence and failed to achieve any successes against the enemy. The Kit The kit is the Valom He119. The turret is actually intended for the He177a5. The paint is by Vallejo and rattlecan. The markings are from the sparesbox.

Unless you extend it with plasticard...

That is your choice. My choice is to basically accept what I am given and be thankful for what I receive. Depending on price, I'll more than likely buy either the Tamiya or the Airfix kits. As I primarily build "What if" models, the number of wheel nuts doesn't worry me. I think you and other "Rivet Counters" expend an awful lot of hot air over basically nothing. As I have suggested, if you don't like it, then either don't buy it or procure an aftermarket set of wheels.

Saving Private Ryan had more than it's share of errors/mistakes/what have yous. Overall, the first third is OK as a good depiction of what it was like on Omaha Beach. The middle third was bullshit and the last third was crap. It was basically a War Comic put together by a director more interested in telling a story than actually showing the detail that was possible. I enjoyed it but I've only ever seen it once. Once was enough. I can watch "Odd Angry Shot" time and time again. I can watch "Long Tan" time and time again (even with the errors in those movies). It all depends on who's telling the story and what story they are telling. Airfix has created a kit which builds well and looks good. Sure, it's got some minor problems but then, most kits do. I've read/listened to endless posts from rivet counters but overall, was building the kit worthwhile, even with the minor errors? Who cares if it has the wrong number of bolts? If your that concerned buy an aftermarket set of wheels. Problem solved.

Not quite true. Hollywood has pushed historical research on certain topics which was lacking in Academia. George McDonald-Fraser wrote an interesting book on how accurate Hollywood had been (up until it was published in the early 1990s) and his conclusion was that generally they got things right. He particular praise for their work on Biblical Epics which had pushed research a lot in that area. We moan and groan about the little details but when you look at the broader general scheme of things, most Hollywood movies are OK IMO.

Many years ago, in a country, far, far, away, there was a book published whose name I have forgotten which compared the F-104 versus other current fighter-bombers. The F-104 came out near the top because of it's lack of gust response at low altitude. The other aircraft such as the Hunter and the Mirage had poor gust response because their wing area was considerably larger than the F-104s. The pilots of the F-104 stated that they had a lot less windy of a time because of that.

The Luchs downunder In 1986 the Dibb Report was issued by the Australian Government on Australian Defence. It detailed the idea of “fortress Australia” rather than “forward defence” as the basic strategy to defend the Australian continent. “Forward defence” was the idea that Australia needed to be defended, “over there” in Asia, well forward of it’s national boundaries, in case of the Domino Theory being correct. “Fortress Australia” had it that only the continent and it’s territories needed defending. This was a consequence of the failure of “forward defence” with the end of the Vietnam War in 1972. In the intervening years basically the Australian Defence Forces had floundered, trying to identify and defend against non-existent enemies. In 1987, a Defence White Paper was issued. After the Dibb Report being severely criticised by the Opposition, the US Government and other interested parties, the Australian Government under the Hawke Government retreated from the extreme measures recommended. What wasn’t going to be retreated from was the need to move the mass of the Australian Defence Forces from the South East corner of the continent to the “top end” to defend against an attack by a likely Asian power. So, most of the army was moved and a large proportion of the air force. Barracks were created in and around Darwin and Tindall. New equipment was purchased. Most of that was wheeled, rather than tracked vehicles, able to run long distances across the arid terrain at high speed. The Spähpanzer Luchs (English: Lynx) was one such vehicle. It was a German 8x8 amphibious reconnaissance armoured fighting vehicle (Spähpanzer) and was in service from 1975 to 2009 with the German Army, who used 408 in their armoured reconnaissance battalions. It was developed by Daimler-Benz between 1968 and 1975, replacing the M41 and the Schützenpanzer SPz 11-2 Kurz. Downunder, the Luchs adopted in 1987 and was used by the Light Horse, inheritors of the WWI tradition of operating against enemy forces as a mounted force. The Luchs was well adapted to the sort of warfare envisaged. Able to run at 100 km/h for several hundred kilometres. It was armed with a 20mm automatic cannon and night vision devices. It was amphibious and equipped with propellers to run it in water. It proved popular with the soldiers who ran it. It was a powerful, hard hitting, vehicle. The Light Horse used it extensively across the “top end” keeping tabs on any possible enemy intrusion. The vehicle depicted, belongs to 3/9 South Australian Mounted Rifles (SAMR) a Light Horse unit, an ARes unit (Army Reserve – the inheritors of the CMF title) in 1990. The Kit A Revell 1/35 kit of the Luchs. Painted with a hairy stick using Mousehouse enamels. Decals from the spares box.

The Saladin Downunder The Saladin Armoured Car was a British multi-role vehicle appearing in the post-World War 2 years. It was brought online after a lengthy development period to replace the outgoing 4x4 AEC Armoured Car that was used throughout the British campaigns of World War 2, first beginning in North Africa, and went on to serve for a time thereafter. The Saladin was named after the Kurdish Muslim warrior Saladin who led campaigns against European crusaders and was ultimately ruler over what is today modern-day Egypt, Syria and Yemen as well as the regions consisting of Mesopotamia and Hejas. Despite development of the Saladin beginning in the post-war years, the type did not formally enter British service until 1958. The Saladin was part of the Alvis family of FV600 series vehicles (all named with designations prefixed with the letter "S"). Another vehicle in the line, the 6x6 FV603 Saracen, was also born from the FV600 family and used extensively in policing territories in Northern Ireland. Similarly, the Saladin was developed with a 6x6 wheelbase that made use of a 6x6 wheeled suspension system and borrowed some of the drive-train lessons as learned in the development of the Saracen. While the Saracen itself was billed as an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) at heart, the Saladin was categorized as a dedicated armoured car system. History of the Saladin in Australian Service The Australian Army ordered approximately 60 Saladins in 1960. They were delivered in 1961. Initially they armed the reconnaissance regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. However, with the increasing emphasis on operations in South East Asia it was felt that wheeled vehicles lack mobility. The vehicles were withdrawn from regular army units and handed over to the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) units in 1963. They performed well there, on long range patrols across the “top end” of the continent, in the arid areas. However, they weren’t popular with their crews because of the high maintenance loads associated with long distance travel. In 1965 they were withdrawn from CMF units. 15 vehicles had their turrets removed and they were placed on M113 APCs. The Australian Army mounted Saladin turrets on M113A1 APCs to produce the Fire Support Vehicle. This was later renamed as the Medium Reconnaissance Vehicle after the somewhat unreliable turret was replaced by the turret from the FV101 Scorpion Light Tank. Royal Australian Armoured Corps(RAAC) personnel referred to them as "Beasts". The other 45 remaining vehicles were passed onto the RAAF Airfield Defence Guards (ADG) where they saw sterling service, defending RAAF airfields. The ADGs liked them, dashing madly along the runways and taxiways to deter any who would dare to attack them. The vehicle displayed is painted in Bronze Green the standard British Army colour and is from the ADG 5 Cavalry Squadron, Amberly Air Base in approximately 1975 where they were responsible for guarding the RAAF’s F-111 Strike Aircraft. The Kit A Dragon 1/35 scaled Saladin. Painted with a hairy stick. Decals OOB.

And how do you do that?