Acklington

Many thanks, and the spinning prop was courtesy of the howling wind when taking the photos outside. At least the prop didn't fall off like it did the first time!

Just finished, all of my modelling nightmares, contained in one kit. This is the Special Hobby 1/72 kit of the Vultee Vengeance TT.IV, this being a typical limited production model with mismatched parts, no locating pins or tabs, vacuformed 'greenhouse' canopy which was difficult to paint, also resin parts, and brass etched parts, so three types of glue required. Reference material for the target tug version was practically non-existent, and what little could be found showed features different to the kit. In fact, every photo of the TT versions shows different features! Yellow is my No.1 hate colour (because it is so thin), and combined with lots of black stripes resulted in 39 bits of masking tape. There were also 35 detailed improvements made to the model. FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (4) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (6) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr Vengeance - Publicly available internet photo by Philip Pain, on Flickr A major puzzle was what-on-earth was this underneath on the bombs doors? It shows in several photos, but was not in the kit. It seems like two 'strakes' with nothing in-between, or nothing that can be seen. After much head scratching, a possible answer is that it is a 'target box' (as fitted to other TT types), and that the 'box' is removed when on the ground, to be reloaded. Thus the empty space between the 'strakes'. So I scratch built a 'box', as seen in this photo, at least the shape is correct in side view. It is 'fixed' to the model with blu-tac so that I can change it if new info comes to light. FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (7) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (8) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (10) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (11) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (14) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (15) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (17) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr FD335, 289 Sqdn Ouston, March 1945 (20) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr 289 Squadron was headquartered at RAF Turnhouse, Edinburgh with detached flights throughout 13 Group's area. In Northumberland the Vengeance target tugs were at RAF Acklington, RAF Eshott, and RAF Ouston. They were only in use for the final few months of the War. FD335 is recorded as being coded 'YE-M', and for anyone familiar with the Geordie dialect, "Yem" means home, but is usually part of the expletive "Gan Yem", otherwise known as Foxtrot Oscar! I said it a lot when making this kit.

A very long term wish has been to model the air cadets gliders from my mis-spent youth. However,there are very few 1/72 kits available, and even harder to find these days. The AZ Models Grunau Baby kit is easily available, and in theory it is very similar to the Slingsby Prefect, which was a later development of it. So this was the kit I set out to modify, and the work-in-progress section has details of the conversion. WE985 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr And this was the hoped - for - outcome WE982 (8781M), Cosford, 14 June 92 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr Here are photos of the completed conversion. The Land Rover and air cadet figures are from the original Airfix bloodhound kit, the Land Rover I painted decades ago to represent the one in use at RAF Ouston for towing glider cables, etc. It carries the Ouston MT code T/23. WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (6) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (9) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (12) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (15) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (17) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985, 641 GS, Ouston, 1967 (21) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr The conversion is only partly accurate, the increased fuselage length is correct, but the nose is too long and the rear fuselage too short. The wings have the increased dihedral plus new struts located further forward. The wingtips are slightly longer and fully enclose the modified ailerons. A mainwheel has been added, plus modified skid. The underside of the rear fuselage should be flat, but I settled for 'nearly flat' as the plastic wasn't thick enough to shave any more off. The fin and rudder have been moved backwards as the elevators on the Prefect are in line with the rudder post. This was the only Prefect TX.1 to be used by 641 Gliding School at RAF Ouston, and only 16 in total were built for the RAF. Most gliding schools had a single example. Thanks for looking, and a very Happy New Year to all.

Final couple of stages and the model is now finished. I'll be posting 'ready for inspection' photos, once there is some decent daylight and sunshine! WE985 (28) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr A mystery feature on Prefect photos, is the two black 'discs' either side of the skid. I painted them on the model, but they may be cable attachment points? On other photos they just look like two 'port holes'. WE985 (29) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr A coat of semi-matt varnish has been applied, as this fabric-covered glider did not have a glossy finish. The final stage in the conversion was to make the dual pitot tubes out of fuse wire, and super glue them to the nose. I really should add to the pitot tubes a short length of 'string' (to scale) as this was the high tech 'slip indicator' on Air Cadet gliders. Something that I would like to make to go with the model, is the 'trailer' that can be seen in the photos I took at RAF Ouston in 1972. XA288, 641 GS, Ouston, 1972 by Philip Pain, on Flickr XN244, 641 GS, Ouston, 1972 by Philip Pain, on Flickr XN250, 641 GS, Ouston, 1972 by Philip Pain, on Flickr I suspect that it may have been a locally modified boat trailer? It will be difficult to scratch build, but not impossible. Any suggestions?

Got the wing on, plus the new struts adjusted to fit the increased dihedral. It was a relief to get the struts in place as my mods to the wing had left it flopping all over the place. The struts are located further forward on the Prefect, and the wing itself has been moved forward to give the greater overhang-of-the-cockpit, compared to the Grunau Baby. This also slightly improves the wing-to-tailplane measurement, sadly deficient on my conversion. WE985 (27) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr Note also, the compulsory used tyre, an essential gliding accessory!

More delays due to festive humbug, but slowly getting there, and after a coat of gloss varnish the decals could go on - 42 separate items! WE985 (25) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr WE985 (26) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr Fortunately I have a couple of photos of WE985 to work from, and the exact location of the serials and roundels is somewhat different to current internet views of the Prefect. The underwing serials were a bit of a challenge due to their wide spacing - took a couple of goes to get it right. So next, the wing will be attached.

Yes, I've been wondering how best to make a T.31 Cadet TX.3. I do have the Kirby Cadet Mk.1 kit, but not the T.31 vacuform which seems to be completely unavailable, unless one pops up on Ebay, when it will probably go for a fortune! So I'm thinking of converting the Kirby Cadet kit, but my main question (and I don't have the Simons book), is whether or not the Grunau Baby wing can be used as the basis for the shorter T.31 wing?

Progress has been slow, due to trouble getting a smooth silver finish - I hand paint all my models. But the first coat of dayglo red is now on. This is a mix of dayglo orange 10 to one with gloss red. It should deepen to a good dayglo red as more coats are applied, hopefully. WE985 (24) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Here is the other side of ZA314 'F; of 845 Squadron, in March 1998. Unfortunately this was the only photo I took of that side, because of the rain blowing onto the camera lens. But for modelling it should help with identifying the camo pattern, both sides. I also think that there was no white camo underneath, apart from the nose area. ZA314, F, 845 Sqdn, IOM, 10 March 98 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr And here are three more views of the starboard side. ZA314, F, 845 Sqdn, IOM, 10 March 98 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr ZA314, F, 845 Sqdn, IOM, 10 March 98 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr ZA314, F, 845 Sqdn, IOM, 10 March 98 (4) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Many thanks for the comments, although the Bristol Airport overflight is still a mystery. Unfortunately the Sea King was too far away, and only a 135 mm lens, so despite my best efforts I can not find a code letter (or letters) on it. Anyway, I do have another example, so here is a photo of it, ZA314, F, of 845 Sqdn, at the Isle of Man Airport 10th March 1998 ZA314, F, 845 Sqdn. IOM, 10 March 98 by Philip Pain, on Flickr I do have photos of the other side, so I'll find one and scan it.

He's one I'm trying to identify Sea King HC4 plus four others - green, Bristol, 4 Jan 88 by Philip Pain, on Flickr It overflew Bristol Airport on 4th January 1988, together with four normal green ones. The unusual thing about this example is that the arctic camo doesn't extend to the lower fuselage, which is clearly not the normal green, but may be a light blue?

Some more progress, the ATC cadet is now on board, and the windscreen has been added using the method illustrated by Terry1954, it worked very well. WE985 (22) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr Moving on to masking and the first coat of airframe silver. Decided to leave the wing off for now and it will stay off until the painting and markings have more easily been done. WE985 (23) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Bit more progress, WE985 (20) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr The fin flash decals from the AZ Models kit have been applied, before adding the tailplane, which would have made it awkward. The decals are a bit under-size, so needed some paint added around the edges. WE985 (21) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr The tailplane was then glued in place, this being so that the tailplane-with-its-struts provides a straight and level datum for adding the wing. It will have been noticed that nothing has been done with the cockpit interior. This is because an ATC cadet/pilot will be included, to give a sense of scale to this small flying machine. With him in the cockpit there is no room for anything else! Several coats of thin paint undercoat are taking several days.

Many thanks Stringbag, I could see from photos that the Prefect has a wrinkly fuselage covering, but decided that my crude surgery efforts would produce the same effect! 😄

Hello Terry1954 , yes it was your contribution that I had found and learned some useful tips from. I was going to look again for your thread and provide a link to it, so I'm sorry that you have had to do it for me. I'm particularly interested in how you made your Cadet TX.3, as that will be next on my list. I have the second AZ Grunau kit, and also the Czech Master Kirby Cadet Mk.1 resin kit.