Truro Model Builder

Soviet doctrine was to hugely outnumber the west in order to throw as much as it could at NATO and grab as much territory as possible before the first nuke was flung by either side. These days Russia, though it still outnumbers NATO, does not have the quantitative advantage that it used to enjoy and it has a lot more land to cross -some of which belongs to nations that spent fifty-odd years under Moscow's thumb and will sure as heck not be willing to do so again.

Nice of IWM to charge £15 to look at half a dozen airliners and a V-1 on a ramp.

I feel it is a shame that it takes the possibility of an order from the British armed forces for Leonardo to consider setting up an assembly line in Yeovil. As a production facility it seems woefully underused by Leonardo, which appears to want to keep most of its helicopter production in Italy.

What's all this fuss about a ship stuck in the Suez wrecking the economy? According to the delivery labels, most of my stuff comes via the river Amazon, not the Suez.

Some USAF top brass have been impressed enough by RAAF E-7s that they are certainly advocating early procurement of it.

And far too much expense. May as well buy new.

Changing Squadron markings does not seem to be a priority task. There are still a couple of Hawks with the special tail for the centenary of naval aviation, and that was in 2009. Like seeing a bus with advertising for the big summer blockbuster from two years ago.

No.8 Squadron was fully declared to the NATO AEW Force as its E-3D component, in effect becoming its fourth operational squadron. Henceforth it has been widely used in support of NATO operations. France's E-3Fs only have a national obligation. With that in mind it is even more remarkable of the neglect the RAF's Sentries have received. US, NATO and French E-3s have all been extensively upgraded in the last couple of decades. The E-3D fleet was to have received some of the same upgrades until the UK withdrew from the programme. Henceforth interoperability has become more and more difficult and the Sentry AEW.1 more and more obsolescent. And now even the decision to replace it with the most capable possible option has been fudged and neutered.

The usual comments being made about what if it had crashed in Helston. Would have improved the town no end if it had.

I can recommend to anyone not to bother signing up with Together Energy. In fact, run very fast in the other direction. Complete and utter bunch of incompetents. Worst decision we ever made to go with them.

The scheme looks better on the A321 than it does on the Voyager.

Tempest is not exclusively a British project. Sweden came in on it as a Gripen replacement fairly early on, and they wouldn't do so unless they thought it was worth it, and Italy has also joined the project. Any way you look at it, it's a better option than buying 20-year-old F-16s...

Hercules, Puma and BAe 146 to go, nine Chinooks, 24 Typhoons, and 36 Hawks also withdrawn. Only three Wedgetails to be purchased and more then 48 F-35s to be bought but no commitment on numbers. £2 billion for Tempest. And that's just the RAF.

Fully integrated squadron by the sound of it. Reminds me of the TTTE at Cottesmore.

Ah, perhaps it was for deployment. Certainly they never carried them while tootling around over Cornwall.

The winch was not fitted to the Mk.7 either.

Many aircraft are modular, as has been mentioned. But once they are built they generally remain that way. I think it unlikely that any operator will convert it from a basic trainer to advanced trainer and so on at anything other than maintenance, if it all. I do not think that the number of man hours would allow it to happen at first or second level maintenance. I'm more than happy for a British competitor to the the new generation of advanced trainers, particularly as BAE Systems do not appear to be that interested, but I am not sure that a modular concept is the answer. The expression 'jack of all trades, master of none' springs to mind.

Looks like there is some space under the rear seat.

I wonder if the founding members of the Flat Earth Society ever wondered what a global success it would turn out to be.

France is probably the only country bloody-minded enough to go ahead and fund an A320-based MPA, simply because. The Aeronavale has about twenty Atlantique 2s in service, with an out of service date of 2030. So either they proceed with an A320 MPA, try to base one on the Falcon 8X, or swallow their pride and go for the P-8A.

The chequered flag has fluttered for the last time. Clear roads ahead, Murray.

Superb work. Well done indeed.

Railfan, many years ago there was a government campaign here in the UK regarding drug use and how it can quickly spiral out of control. It used the strapline: 'He thought he could handle it.' Now I'm not one to say that model making is like a drug but...

That is one of the nicest little models I have ever built, and an ideal introduction to rigging. Enjoy.

And if you're very lucky, twenty different people will know twenty different answers... Welcome to the board, Andy.