Stuart Wilson

I understood (and I'm away from my references at the moment) that there were 16 production F.3A built, which were basically F.6s without the ability to carry the overwing tanks. one crashed and the remaining 15 were brought up to full F.6 standard. I don't know about squadron service but I would assume so. which squadrons I don't know. Stuart

Thanks for all the replies. Sadly, as far as DS842 is concerned, I built that one when the kit came out and I included the windows. She'll have to stay like that. I'll have a think about which one to do. I have the Xtradecal sheet for the B.II so I've got a few options. Cheers Stuart

Hi, I'm preparing to build the Airfix Lancaster B.II kit and I was wondering if there is any definitive answer on whether or not the fuselage windows were deleted on the later LL serialed aircraft. Photos seem hard to come by. There is also the possibility of overpainting. Any information on when/if they stopped installing the windows would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any replies. Stuart

I was of the understanding that the 410 had, in addition to the straight wing leading edge, the DB603 which is why the nacelles on the 410 are longer, with the 210 having the DB601 (or possibly 605s on the Hungarian built ones). Certainly the Cosford Me410 was restored to ground running status in the 1980s. Surely a record would have been made of the engine type and had they not been DB603s it would have been common knowledge by now. As far as the photos of the rebuilt 210 are concerned, there does seem to be a notch on the outer starboard wing where the slat should be but it's hard to tell. I've built a couple of the Airfix 410s now and it is a very nice kit if anyone is undecided on it. Stuart

I've never seen any photographic evidence that this scheme really existed, of course, absence of evidence... Having said that, all the photos of 210s seem to show 74/75/76 so why would they switch to 70/71 for early 410s and then switch back? And I can't see KG51 bothering with some sort of factory style repaint. They were bombing at night so were more likely to just spray the underside black (which there is evidence for). As far as converting 210s to 410s, assuming they used a later 210 with the long fuselage it would still need new wings and engines. Seems like a lot of work. I can believe that some 210 components may have been used including stored fuselages but once the fuselage was lengthened and the slats added I was under the impression the 210 was reasonably effective, certainly the Hungarians seemed to like them, and therefore any complete late production 210s would have probably been used for training at least. The Hungarians supplied completed 210s to the Luftwaffe from their production, so they must have been of some use. Stuart

I note that the waist window positions seem to be the open variety only. these were enclosed from the H-20. This was around the same time Ford and Consolidated dropped the camo so if you want to build it in natural metal finish it probably means you're limited to a Douglas built one. I'm pleased to see the separate nose which I hope means other variants. Airfix seem to like doing a couple of variants of larger kits and they usually want to do one in British markings so we'll see what comes out. I would have thought a J model wouldn't look too different from the H so perhaps a D? Personally I prefer the longer nosed variants but I'd probably buy any Coastal command type they made. I'm building the Airfix B-17 at the moment and it's almost a criminal waste of how they have underutilised that tooling so I doubt we'll see a huge family of B-24s, probably just this kit and one or two others at most. (They haven't even done a Tallboy Lanc! New bomb doors and a bomb, how hard would that be to mould?) Stuart

Let's see. I'll need one in Natural Metal, one in OD/NG, Then hopefully the Coastal Command version will be announced and I'll need one of those too. Then probably a few more,,, Definitely the announcement of the day for me. Stuart

So is this Boeing, Douglas or Lockheed (Vega)? I note the starboard waist position is moved forward but the aircraft still have the original "wedge" shaped tail turret (although this might have been removed at the modification centre and swapped for a "Cheyanne" turret. I didn't see any serial numbers. Stuart

That would probably work.

If you do this, it won't fit. H27 is wider than the ball and the corresponding hole in the fuselage. Stuart

The fuselage join either side the turret isn't great and does need a little filler (at least mine did). Not only that but, having masked and painted the turret before installing, I needed to remove some of the masks as they wouldn't be accessible once the turret was in the fuselage (I'm using a pre-cut masking set). I'll just need to carefully re-mask the turret for spraying using Maskol or something like that. Stuart

I thought that too, I'm building the kit at the moment. But test fitting showed that it wouldn't fit after the fuselage halves were joined. So I reluctantly fitted it as Airfix advised. I built one when the kit was released but I can't remember how I installed the turret. It may be possible to install the frame the turret sits in and then put the ball of the turret in later. But given how fragile the frame is (I glued it to the turret) I wouldn't like to try it. As far as getting the turret to move, that didn't seem to want to work at all and I just installed it facing rearwards. Stuart

I think the markings in the OP are based on a photo I have seen from an old publication. I can't remember who published it but it was like a Squadron "In Action" but in an A4 format. Anyway it showed a dark coloured aircraft with bomb racks and was identified an an A2a. However I think later publications have identified the aircraft as one from Stab. JG7 with the racks being for Wfr. Gr. 21. That unit seemed to have dark coloured aircraft. I think the aircraft has the number 4 under the badge which was the usual greyhound JG7 badge but was not clear in the photo and was misidentified as the Edelweiss of KG51. Of course I could be wrong. Always happy to be corrected. Stuart

Not sure what you were looking at but I've finished my first 410 and on to the second, I bought them from different places (LHS and Airfix website) and they're both excellent quality. Plastic is crisp, panel lines sharp and the parts certainly aren't thick. I've had a lot of issues with Airfix's quality control over the last few years but these are fine. Frankly, the detail is as good as any other company I've seen except Eduard and maybe Arma. On a par with Tamiya and the fit is good too, If Airfix can keep this up with future releases I'll be happy. Stuart

That's the photo I was talking about. Except it's been doctored to remover the swastikas. On the original they are black with a white outline. There aren't any in the kit so I used some from an Aeromaster sheet I have. Airfix's instructions also tell you to reverse the direction of the clog on the side of the nacelle too. again an easy correction. Stuart.