bar side

Seem to remember the wheels themselves were a little, er, what’s the word?

Know what you mean. My other grandad was killed at Arnhem, not at the bridge but pushing up the road. Walking round there now it’s difficult to imagine the scene, but it makes more sense in 3D. By the way the grandad with the Narvik photos didn’t take them, he confiscated them from a German POW at the end of the war. I ended up with both the photos and his binoculars. Think my dad still has his knife. But it was all part of the tale my grandad told me as a kid. He didn’t say as much as I would now have liked - I think I only ever got edited highlights. Think that’s true of many of his generation. Another Narvik photo (I can link my Flickr pics, so this is one of mine) Ju-52 landed on the frozen water and then left/abandoned until the ice melted. Another that grandad handed to me & said “you won’t see that happening again!” Also a bit of live night firing - all German navy around 1940

Been past Debach but not on a day it’s been open. Must have a look. Mind you got to get to Wattisham museum (first Sunday of the month) and Bentwaters Cold War museum too. They do guided walks over there which sound good. Pic of the buildings at Rougham - parachute store, bomb sight store, etc still there

Cheers @Getunderit been a bit of light relief from building kits. More buildings in mind and a need for a new base to sit them on. Even f they are just there as supporting cast to the aircraft. couple of pics from the weekend - almost ready for some interior paint Desks now have the slope in place & some edging. Need a few seats made up & some unused pilots to be adapted to work there. And got my hands on some nice thin evergreen strip for walkway hand rails

My aircraft WIP started off with a couple of 1/48 RAF Phantoms I was building, but somewhere along the way I started putting together a background to photograph them with. This turned in to a hair-brained scheme to build a Hardened Aircraft Shelter (HAS). I live near Wattisham and have taken some photos while passing of the site, and using google maps I got started on some plans. A full size hanger in 1/48 would just be too big, so a single aircraft HAS seemed do-able. So this is what I was aiming for: Most of the build so far is on my other thread, so I won't repeat it all here. Suffice to say it got rolling with a bit of rolled up cardboard: The main structure is about 76cm x 45cm. But then add the apron in front, doors, vent at the back, annex, etc, etc. Its got pretty big.

The sound effects in the top glasshouse are spooky - kept looking over to see what was coming in! Rougham tower is looking good too, and lots of original buildings there despite the new road through the site. Nice big chunk of runway left at Rattlesden plus the tower. Always think of the airfix b-17 kit ‘a bit o’ lace’ as she was a Rattlesden bird

Narvik shipwreck 1940. My grandad gave me original pictures he obtained during the war. This one isn’t mine but I have some copies scanned in

D on a white square? Is that 100th Bomb Group? Went to the museum at Thorpe Abbotts last summer. Very nice place to visit & nice bunch of volunteers. https://www.100bgmus.org.uk/ i am surrounded by the ex 8th Airforce bases over this part of the world - Bury St Edmunds/Rougham, Honnington, Rattlesden etc. Nice to see that as a subject

The tower looks a little bare as it is so it’s time to build some interior. The bottom WW2 section will have opaque with windows, so no need to build the inside, but the top look out section has big clear windows. I have tried the find pre computer photos but it’s not easy i found this shot of a very empty or possibly a refurbished tower. So this is the basic plan. The base is too low so I have built a false floor and the desks above that. They need a raised front and some way of making that sloped desk space. This is how the drop in section looks Couple of 1/48 characters to give scale and a rough seat shape. The back left section is missing as this leads to the opening door section. Now, with the section dropped in more to be done, and some lighting I feel

Built this one not long after it came out too. As it models the prototype, isn’t it a 20mm Gatling rather than the production 30mm? All I can remember is propping up the engines to stop them sinking downwards while the glue dried. Was best part of 25 years ago though. Built my first hog since last year in 1/48 & yours looks like it will have more detail! Thats the 1/48 not the matchbox one

Bit of sunshine so time to get everything out & see how it looks

Got some paint on the base building and fitted the windows. On the top I have cut out the windows and glazed them. Coming together now More to do on the walkways, then stairs to make, hand rails and some detail in the glass observation deck

This makes a nice example of the frame - this is RAF Manby. Need to find some interior pictures next

Now for the top glass box. Lots of nice mathematical shapes. Octagonal shape with trapezoidal windows. Nice idea to measure it out but in reality it’s a bit cut & test thats the basic idea. So out with the cereal box to mock up the shape of the windows. Here it is with the garage building that I made up to house the tanker and landrover

And with first go at windows in. An old model rail trick is to take photos of real windows and scale them to the opening size. Glue them in behind and they look more realistic than putting in glass & having an empty room behind. May well put some clear plastic in front of the picture so they reflect the light like the top section (when built) will. Need to paint the walls before fitting anything for real.

Something familiar about the tower with the windows cut out

Excellent work as usual Rich. Amazing detail underneath those rusty covers

Meant to post a pic of the Hawk flaps down. Nice feature of the Airfix kit

Might get a better idea from this shot Tiime to start cutting out the windows and introduce some glue. might end up a bit like the Martlesham tower with the octagonal viewing room on the roof http://www.controltowers.co.uk/M/Martlesham.htm

This one was going to be an out of the box Airfix black Hawk but then I remembered how much I liked the old red and white scheme. Not finished lol of the stencil decals but she has her identity now as XX164 of the Central Flying School, RAF Valley. What would be better than one Hawk? A pair? And a trio of trainers thanks for looking

With some quick measuring up and using the Rougham tower as a window layout, this is about the size of the tower building. I have some plans for the windows, but may not built an interior. Will be unavoidable though in the glass house on the roof! 1/48 man an a barrel for scale

Another one of the trio - cropped the other one a bit close

@Corsairfoxfouruncle the 125 is a T1 as far as my knowledge on Dominies goes. She is XS726, a T1 now at Newark. Had to scratch build her as there is no 1/48 kit

Yep, I feel a JP is a future must. Chipmunks & Bulldogs are not cheap or easy to get hold of in 1/48

Cheers guys - thanks for your kind comments. I found some photos of old Mildenhall & Bentwaters airships and the red & white trainer scheme was there. https://www.airshowspast.com/raf-bentwaters-airshow-1985.html @ColinChipmunkfan I finished the Dominie about a year ago. The red & white scheme there tempted me to do another Hawk