rossjools

, I remember seeing the real Southern Cross as a lad of maybe 6, 7 or 8 as it was being transported to Brisbane on the back of a couple of low loaders. At that time my grandmother lived in a little village called Lochinvar just west of Maitland on the New England Highway which was the route taken by the convoy. I remember clearly my parents telling me that this famous aeroplane would pass through the village that day (a Sunday) as we visited Nana most Sundays. althoguh at that time I was too young to understand the importance of this aircraft I felt the reverance of everyone standing on Nana's tiny front verandah that Sunday. Most of the family was there so it was a great family atmosphere as she passed through in pieces. , Ross.

, Thank you Cliff. It is a pugnacious but not unpleasant looking aircraft and from all accounts they flew well. There were about 300 of them (the production I-4) in service from about 1927 to 1937 and they were all metal at a time when most "advanced" western nations were still playing around with wood wire and cheese cloth aircraft types. The production types had three different wing planforms, this one, another with a smaller lower wing and one with no lower wing at all as used in Professor Vakhmistrov's Zveno (link) experiments in which a TB-3 bomber was modified to carry up to five smaller aircraft, one on top of each wing and one below each wing, and one either on top of or below the fuselage. , Ross.

This is another Soviet aircraft with a licence built Bristol engine, the M-22, a version of the Jupiter. This engine also powered a number of other Soviet aircraft of the 1920s and '30s. This aircraft was bare metal overall with no markings. The kit is the Encore kit. A little extra detailing was done in the cockpit and the few rigging wires added from stretched sprue. Cheers, Ross.

"Ya gonna 'ave ta go faster than that captain." Another comment elsewhere was "We pay for five thousand five hundred feet, we use five thousand five hundred feet." Though I think the runway at Fairbairn is longer than that. Cheers, Ross.

Thank you Veltro, The rigging was the hardest part of this build but I got there in the end. It was very satisfying to finish it that's for sure. Cheers, Ross.

Thank you walrus. Glad you like it. Cheers, Ross.

Hello Aerobat, Hannants do have the Amodel Pitts listed on their website. It's in the Amodel catalogue, page 2, 5 up from the bottom of the page. HTH. Cheers, Ross.

Greetings from Downunder, Here is my Polikarpov I-5. Some of you will have seen this one elsewhere but I decided to show it here too. Whilst not a British aeroplane it did have a licence built British engine, the Bristol Jupiter and was a contemporary of the Bristol Bulldog and Boeing P-12. This is the neat little ICM kit which is beautifully detailed. I hope you all enjoy it. , Ross.