Chris Hughes

Thanks Andrew! As good a place as any I suppose.

I don't suppose anyone can tell me where the recoil ramps were carried when the detachment was on the move? There's certainly no room in the back of the Scammell!

I think Resicast may also have some good "relaxed" figures.

Polish Air Force - it has to be!

Gentlemen, please allow me to step in here? I received an email from Petr Buchar of CMR this morning, who is just recovering from surgery. He and his colleagues from 4+/Mark 1 are in the process of boxing up the new Sea Venom kits. Somebody has pointed him in the direction of this thread and this was his comment: "Our Sea Venom has many details, including two PE sets, canopy paint mask, optional payload (bombs, drop tanks, rockets) while Dragonn has nothing like that with their plastic kit. And - also important fact is that our export price will be at the same price level as is the Dragon plastic kit which is quite expensive when this is for the injection moulded plastic kit, right???" Petr is renowned for going as close to the source as possible when it comes to research, including access to manufacturers' archives and measuring and photographing actual airframes. So, there you have it. You've seen some of the comments here about his Buccaneers (which won him a Gold Medal at the Nuremberg Toy Fair a couple of years ago), if the Sea Venoms are anything like, they should be winners. And yes, I really like the guy because he's a fellow modeller and his prime motivation is not to rip off fellow modellers but to give us the best he can !

For the very reasonable sum of £50, Sylmasta also do a 2kg resin/1kg silicone set. I was taught how to cast by a firm of pro model makers (if you've ever seen the topographical model that the FAC guys train on - Swaledale - I had a hand in that...) and one thing I'm thinking of is getting a bell jar so that I can try "de-gassing" the silicone. Also, if you use the very flexible silicone, you can make one piece moulds without having to worry about alignment issues (and flash on your castings). A small set of digital scales also works well for measuring silicone and catalyst. You can also use the medical syringes for "injection moulding". Once mixed, suck up the resin into another syringe and use it to get deep into the mould, this avoids bubbles. You can re-use the syringes by withdrawing the plunger and peeling off the resin before it sets rock hard. You can also use the non-pointed needles, as used by the fibre-optic fitters, to ensure a good flow right into the fine detail. You have to work fast though! Sylmasta also sell them.

This is serious stuff my Lord! A long absence from modelling and diving into such a kit and getting the hang of resin casting! Phew! I think I'll just wait and see what the Airfix kit is like!

I think that it may have been WD988 that was at the summer air display at RAF Valley in about 1970 (?) I recall she was carrying one of those strange missiles that used to come with the old Airfix Mirage III. The missile was painted orange. Needless to say, I don't have the photo any longer...

One problem with assembling the tracks onto the kit before painting is that, over time, the vinyl of the track will melt the plastic! Trust me, this will happen! A few folks have also mentioned the idea of rolling up the tracks as though they've been removed for transit. In one of the Concorde books on British Armour in either Normandy or Holland/Germany, there's a nice shot of a Scammell Tk Transporter carrying avwrecked Sherman. It's had a number of bogeys blown off, probably by a mine, and it too has no tracks. If you were to go for that option, you'd need to "chain" down the tank onto the trailer, as a tank doesn't usually sit there and rely on gravity to keep it in place!

I think that there are Toms that are driving 432's that their Grandads used to drive! I crewed a 438 (Swingfire) back in the 1970's. I heard they were all converted back into APCs when the system became exclusive to the Striker. And a crackin' build too!

Careful with the instruction sheet on this kit folks, the graphic artist had a brainphart when he drew up the RAF camouflage! Incidentally, the real aircraft was photographed for the kit manufacturers, but they chose not to include some of the detail...

Thanks for the scan and the FS number thereon. The Italeri kit has markings for the Italian AF and USAF, very similar to the second column, second one down or bottom right. I'll have to check the box art.

Nope, no pylons or Hellfires, but there are two fairings where the pylons could be fitted... The butterfly tail is protected by two cardboard "sleeves" to stop the two probes snapping off. It's a very dainty little kit and goes together very quickly. I put the majority of it together in about 30 minutes. Now... What colour is the ruddy thing! I've seen some mention that the USAF ones are white, but the kit just says "light grey"... Anyone else have a clue? And yes, it's only one model in the box, but I'm a recce nut, so what the hell!