tempestfan

Good morning all, many thanks for your combined digging efforts, and especially to Dave for sending the scans - most highly appreciated! !! I'll look for a photo host today and then try to post the order. I was in dreamland already when the discussion picked up speed, but had a quick flick through some books yesterday. Not unexpectedly, Air Britain's Squadrons and DA/DZ yielded nothing. Sharp/Bowyer has no pics but a page (203) of drawings, with notes that seem a bit contradictory to me. As I read them, band and spinner were specified for TLS but discontinued when DFS was introduced around mid 42. However, DK292 is illustrated in DFS with bands and spinners, but without the yellow LEs. 292 also seems to be the subject of the profile in Bombing Colours, so probably is the machine Mike Bowyer took notes of. I have a book by Holliday, which IIRC is focused on Canadian use, Wooden Wonder and perhaps one or two others upstairs to search through - but with slim hopes for a conclusive pic. Thanks again to all !

Hard to be certain - I have just about all Airfix Series 1 Type 1 aircraft, bar BT-K, which however I have as a Plasty version (see avatar ), like quite a number of others including most of the small Tall Ships. Oldest of all the Airfix /Plasty may be an Airfix Gladiator moulded in sky blue with a red complaint slip. Also probably among the oldest is a Plasty Fokker Dr.I with a header calling it Triplane - they apparently then realised that this is simply Dreidecker in English, and changed it accordingly. Other old (and rare) ones are Plasty boxings of the Lincoln Canberra, Valiant and Gnat, though those may be somewhat younger as they continued into the early 60's. More old ones are Frog Canberra 7 and Meteor 8 in the "blue " boxes. Even harder to say which are the rarest; the Plasty 's probably qualify, as does the slightly younger 007 Toyota 2000GT, and to a lesser extent some Airfix boxings of MPC Corvettes, could be '65 and Mako Shark. I need an Airfix Gangbuster, however. ..

Dave, that is a most generous offer !!! To spare you the work in case he is just after a pic, I'll ask him first. Most highly appreciated ! Cheerio ! Claus

A friend asked me whether I'd ever heard of 105 Sq Mosquitoes in Day Fighter Scheme, with Sky bands and yellow leading edges. He told me this scheme was reported in a Mike Bowyer book (Bombing Colours ?) being in use up tp max July 42 and illustrated with a Profile, but no photos there, and my friend said he'd been unable to locate any on the net. As I am not intimate with the Mossie, but many around here are: Any confirmation re that scheme, and if so, possibly pointers to any books or mags featuring pics ? TIA

As Giorgio said - the Italeri AV-8B is a rather old kit (first released in '83 or '84, I think), and while the mould has been updated a number of times, there are three better kits around. I wouldn't judge it a bad kit, but when it was released, the development of the Harrier II was not yet finished. I haven't kept track what Italeri updated with the mould, but the Italeri GR.5 Version of the tool didn't really reach the original tool Airfix Harrier. After Airfix issued a new tool, you may probably find their old AV-8B at a similar Price as the Italeri/Tamiya. Besides the new tool Airfix, there of course is the Hasegawa, but that will likely be a lot more expensive. I don't think Italeri ever re-released the Esci AV-8B, and that one seems to be considered worst of all. There was a thread not Long ago on this Topic, search for "best Harrier in 1/72" or similar. IMHO Italeri was best in the 70s and up to the mid 80s (at least in relation to the competition), becoming rather variable thereafter. It's been a Long time since I looked in one, but I remember their Hs 129 as one of their better kits from the 90s, with recessed Detail. Certainly a much more modern tool than the AV-8B, but I can't comment on accuracy and buildability.

Re the wing spar pick up points, we had a Tempest thread the other day, there are a number of pics in it posted by Troy that should come in helpful also re the Typhoon. May I also recommend Arthur Bentley 's drawings.

IIRC either the introductory notes to Arthur Bentley's drawings or an Annotation on them themselves cited the Typhoon centre sections as the Primary reason for a Differentiation between Srs 1 and 2. Would have to look up the number he quoted. As the drawings were originally done 44 years ago, he may have had Access to Hawker documents that now no longer exist/are findable ? Really time to finally start the Mason book and pick up the Eduard Tempest again... and yes, I'm looking for yours all the time but it's fairly expensive. I don't mind paying a Price for a good book but even I have a Limit... How about an updated 2nd Edition ?

Nowhere near the books, but IIRC 1 (the few), 1a and 2 were predominantly black, I ***think*** the Change occured with the 3. Not sure what that'd mean for the F.2A, but as those were extensively modified...

I see no safety reason for the slat "well" being red, as there is no risk for any Crew to walk against an edge and damage itself and/or the airframe.

Thanks for the confirmation ! No idea how those records were called, I think they were mostly used as cheapo inclusions in mags, and not very common here from the early 80s on, at least. Pity mine doesn't include the disc, but I'd be having Trouble playing it anyway - don't think a Technics QL-33 would take to well to it (or it to the Technics...).

The only HC. 4 I'm Aware of "in box" is the recent new Airfix tool. Not sure whether Revell did a 5 boxing, but they had a 6/AEW kit some years ago, and I think some People prefer the Revell kit over the Airfix even though the Revell is now some 20 years old.

The long stainless rule may be useful on a large surface like Vulcan wings, but I prefer something more flexible. Besides, the rule won't help with the problem of residue. There are dedicated scribing tools, as has been mentioned, designed to remove material from the line instead of building up ridges either side. I have /had one by Bare Metal, but it made very broad channels with only slight pressure. May have been a problem with mine, though, as others I talked with were happy. Last time I scribed I tried the Olfa P-Cutter, which worked superbly (for me). Easy to control, enabled precise and uniform lines. No idea if it or something equivalent is still available, as it's been more than a decade ago

...and early Dragon aircraft kits at least did not have a Reputation for precisely stellar fit...

"Lost in Russia" refers to some Commercial tête-à-tête Revell had with Alanger some 10 years ago, in which apparently Alanger was supplied with a number of Revell-owned moulds to have them moulded in Russia. List here, not all of them ex-Revell. For some reason, Alanger appears to (successfully) have claimed ownership, with the kits appearing from them thereafter, e.g. the legacy Revell A-7A, MB A-20G and a He 111H (could be either MB or ex-Frog - Scalemates says MB). A couple of years ago, Revell looked at re-releasing the MB Ju 188E/F - we were only spared this dreadful kit by the mould being no longer with Revell. --- But I guess we've veered o/t so far that soon we will be called to order Revell's acquisition of the MB moulds took place in '91, I think. Time flies...

Parts shot for Revell here - the method for the inner u/c doors is the give away. Also, I think the Revell is the only legacy Srs 1 kit. Not sure but I think the Collector's Choice boxing came with Beamont, the original H-621 (SD-Z or whatever) and Le Grand Showoff decals. Your build very amply illustrates why I regard the MB Tempest as one of their best (aircraft) kits ever. Great build indeed, Sir ! That would be great ! However, this ***may*** be one of the moulds lost in Russia. A friend who did some freelancing for Revell asked me a couple of years ago which MB aircraft I'd consider worthy of release by Revell, and the Tempest, Fury and Siskin were top of the list. The Fury at least has resurfaced. Not sure about the Siskin.