RJ-WobblyHands

Before marriage (25 yrs ago) that was ok for me and the mates - camping at the site , portaloos etc ... The only way to entice my wife to an airshow was with 'hospitality with flushable toilets !!!' and a decent hotel before and after

Saturday was good if you like the Hawk , there were a lot of them in the air!!! the best flying displays were the Canadian F-18 , C-27J Spartan and the Turkish F-16C the commentator was awesome !! The low cloud base did make the displays all seem very similar but that we cannot control the weather!! From chatting with a couple who were there on Friday - its was more NATO centric so I missed the U2 flying and some other cool stuff. though 30C temps would have made the day not so enjoyable. and it does not matter what event / which carpark etc you go to getting out is always a nightmare!! the Purple Car Park was just as bad - everyone making their own route & queue to the single exit point . I remember a couple of years ago taking 2 hours to get out of the carpark at the Hoppings funfair in Newcastle and that was very small compared to number of cars this weekend. I do worry for the future of airshows when all countries are just flying F-35's!! and drones

Back to the modelling - the Office was built - Eduard PE kit that came with the model apart from the foot pedals(you will never see those) was used and some micro krystal clear on the MFD's to look like a screen and I have been working on the exhausts (I could / should have just got some resin am ones ! )

This weeks update - glue has been used and paint has been recovered to a usable state and sprayed , 2 years of RL fun not doing any modelling left the paint lids well attached and paint needed a lot of mixing , good job I look after my tools better than the paints - the airbrush was in perfect condition !! , not sure about the operator though Main part of the fuselage joined together - some primer put on the main seams to check what extra work will be needed , Pegasus intake sprayed whilst easy to get to !! They have a Pegasus intake mounted on the wall at the entrance to 'The Runway Bar' on the top floor of the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow T2 , I took this last month !

1st plastic cut and dry fitting time, to find the 'interesting' joins on the main fuselage. This looks fun ! I see several places where careful manipulation is going to be required

The scheme will either be the "Artic Harrier' from the 2004 Snow Falcon Exersize or from 1996 SAOEU based at Boscombe Down both are 60% LERX units so I do not have to make the decision just yet !

Finally back in the land of modelling - my entry for this GB will be Eduard's reboxing of the Hasegawa GR7 / GR9 Harrier. As this is the NATO GB it will not be a Harrier based in the MIddle East so as not to build build yet another fully grey aircraft I will build one with white or green on it !! Onto the starting pictures , all new and packaged up The included Resin , PE and Decals

Very nice 😁 ! a completed build before I have started ( though I am on vacation / working away).

Please add me to the list - the most awesome wife bought me a couple of kits for my birthday to go with my 617 Sqdn Tornado … the Tamiya 1/48 F-35B and 1/48 Lancaster (need a GB for this one!!) Another gray job for the shelf ☺️ later this year

Haha my 1/48 modern jet collection expands the area of interest to include anything I see I would like to build at some point- not many military bases in the modern jet age in Essex anymore. A Harrier from RAF Wittering, F-15E from Lakenheath , A-10 From Bentwaters , something from Alconbury all are not too far from Essex , too many bases have closed over the years . 1/72 WW2 collection is still USAF based in Essex - next build in that collection will be the Eduard Wine Women & Song B-26 Kit as part of the 80th D-Day GB

eek only a week or 3 weeks for me (not starting until end April due to work travel commitments) to decide - easy build, hard build, easy build, hard build hmmm choices ... Keep leaning towards the Eduard Limited Edition Harrier GR7/9 to test my patience and building skills otherwise it will be one of the new Airfix , Tamiya , SWS , Meng offerings !!

11 days until the GB start , I am away on business until 23rd April (my GB Start date) .... I still have no idea what i am going to build : S-2B Bucc (a Pink One) , Harrier GR 9, F-15E out of Lakenheath, F-35B (617 Sqdn) , Shackleton, Tamiya A-10A , F4-E too many choices !!!! or buy a MIG-21Bis with Croatian markings (my country code)

add me to the list please . I need the fill to fill my office / modelling room up with more big beasties

Made me think I will be building 2 kits - the one I have and the new airfix one - a 4 prop bomber what is there not to love !!

During the war there were 17 Squadrons were posted to Bradwell Bay at some point , but I think every squadron that flew from an East Anglian base will have landed at least one aircraft there during WW2 , even though it was not a designated an Emergency Landing Ground , it was often the 1st friendly runway pilots saw , Lancasters and B-17's were seen there with various states of damage !! I forgot the damaged JU-88 that landed there instead of in France ! ( If I had thought about that I could have made that my WW2 1/72nd scale model theme .. )