Simon

More here: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/workbench/workbench-edition-50/ Regards Simon

There was an R.A.F. Marine Craft unit in Lyme Regis: "In 1937, and with only local boats once again acting as lifeboats, the Royal Air Force Marine Craft Unit came to the town and operated their fast patrol and safety launches from the site of what is now the Marine Centre west of the Cobb on Monmouth Beach. The R.A.F. unit was closed in 1964." Source: http://www.lymeregis.com/lifeboat/ Regards Simon

Another update for today... I've got all the bomb racks installed in the bomb bay, and I test-fitted the bomb load to make sure it would fit okay: That done, time to add some wings and the horizontal taiplanes and make it start to look like an aeroplane, at last. The fit of both wings and tailplanes wasn't 100% perfect, and took a little bit of fettling to get them on. Now they're on, I've done some weathering on the upper surfaces, as R.A.F. Erks seemed to have mucky boots and Lancasters often seemed to have particularly scruffy upper wings where the groundcrew went about their work: So, I think I'm getting there. More soon... Cheers Simon

Another quick update for today... While I was aiting for replacement decals for the problematic FP ones, I thought I'd look up LL716 in some reference books, to see what history it had. Seems it was with 115 Sqn before joining 514 Sqn, which means it would have had the 115 Sqn codes overpainted and replaced the 514 Sqn ones. In for a penny, in for a pound... I masked off the areas where the codes would be, making sure the edges weren't too straight: and overpainted the areas with a more solid, newer-looking coat of black: Meanwhile the Xtradecal codes had arrived, so I set about chopping sections out them to shorten their height. Here the port side on, with a sample of their original size to campare to: You can still see the joins, but a couple of coats of DACO's decal-setting solution should sort them out. Once they've been coated, I'll leave them for a day or so to bed in, and then on to the bomb bay. Meanwhile, it's the Northern Model Show at North Shields tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to getting down there... More soon... Cheers Simon

Yes, I was a little surprised, and more than a little disappointed. However, lesson learnt, and I'm 100% sure that the Xtradecal ones will be prefectly fine once a little 'chopping and changing' to get the right sizes has gone on. Simon

Another day...another issue to get round... I'd had trouble finding fuselage serials that were the right sixe - 514 Squadron used slightly smaller letters than the standard size for their A2-X codes, about 42 inch. So, I found some red 1/48 27" letters on the Fantasy Printshop website which would be ideal. Just applied them, and they're very translucent which, on a black fuselage side, isn't exacly ideal - compare them to the Airfix roundel and Xtradecal serials: Here's one of the letters with a sheet of white paper under part of it, and you can see how translucent they are: I'd assumed they're be underprinted with a white base layer to make them opaque. I dropped FP an e-mail to see if this is how they'd actually been produced, and to their great credit they replied with half an hour, and said they're an old design that wasn't underprinted, to save costs. Bit of a pain, so on to Plan B, which looks to be using slightly over-sized 1/72 48" codes. Cheers Simon EDIT Found an old and very yellowed Modeldecal sheet of 48" x 24" RAF codes in amongst my spare decals, so tried a quick experiment to see if they could be cut down clightly to make shorter letters: I think they'll work fine, and Xtradecal make them now as XD72210, so I've ordered a couple of sheets.

Another quick update, and (yet) another problem to get sorted... The bomb load has been decalled up: and as RAF bombs often seemed to look a bit on the scruffy side, they've also been weathered: Meantime, I thought I'd give the fuselage sides a coat of gloss in preparation for adding the decals for the roundels and codes. I used a thinned down coat of Humbrol Clear and this happened: I did the wings at the same time, and nothing went wrong with them, so I've no idea what the issue was. Never had this with the 'new' Humbrol Clear either. Easily solved, but could have been a bit of a disaster. Ho hum... More soon... Cheers Simon

Thanks - not so much skill as patience, a steady hand, and good eyesight...! I find decalling walkways a right faff-on, as they never seem to go on straight, so it's actually easier to paint 'em for me. Simon

Some more progress to report. The red trestle markings under the wings, tails and fuselage have been masked: and painted with Revell's Aqua Carmine Red: The kit's decals will be chopped up to go in the gaps, then they may need toning down once they're on. Took about an hour of masking for both wings, the tailplanes and the fuselage, but I hate decalling walkways and trestle markings. I've also got hold of another of Airfix's Bomber Command Re-supply sets, and now have a full bomb load, painted up ready for some weathering: Amazon had a bit of a mare with the Re-supply set, and DPD ended up delivering an empty box , but they sorted it out PDQ and sent out another one with something actually in it! BTW I think Airfix could be on a winner if they did 'overtrees' and sold Sprue D separately with just the tractor, 500lb and 1000lb bombs on it, but never mind. More soon... Simon

So, after a somewhat longer hiatus than I anticipated, I'm back with a quick update. Apologies for the delay - another project got ever so slightly out of hand and took (and is still taking) about 10 times longer than anticipated! Anyway...the glazing has been remasked and repainted, and worked much better this time, so that has allowed me to get the three turrets ready and painted. Here the nose turret: Upper turret: and the tail turret: I'm busy masking off the red trestle marking lines on the undersides of the wings, fuselage and tailplanes, so that's next up. Then hopefully I can get the checklist of bits to finish ticked off one by one...! More soon, Cheers Simon

Thanks for that Ian. I've had a few weeks away from my work-bench, so apologies for the lack of updates for a while. Hopefully some more updates soon... Simon

Bf-109E of Lt. Erich Meyer of JG51. Meyer was rescued and became a P.o.W. The Messerchmitt was found on the sea-bed in the 1970s, most of the wreck recovered - the wings are on display at Hawkinge. A bit more info here: http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?62807-Complete-Me109-(well-nearly)-recovered-in-1976-where-is-it-now Simon

No worries - happy to have hopefully been of some help. Simon

There are a few images here which may be useful: https://www.flickr.com/photos/103573370@N03/sets/72157637976111823/ Simon

John Triangle K was the 379th B.G., with a black triangle outlined in yellow. The video is available here to see online. Looks like the B-17 in question has made use of a few 'spare parts' salvaged from other B-17s, to say the least! I think the anti-dazzle panel is just faded O.D. Simon