stevehnz

Good to have a positive take on it. It seemed to review well on Amazon & Good Reads though I guess I was looking for a focus more on the peripheral aspects of the campaign. I have read a fair bit about but always remained dissatisfied about the details concerning air ops. In spite of the politics of the time, I've great admiration for the individuals who had to carry out the flawed plans of their superiors. Steve.

This got its first coat of Colorcoats PRU blue on the underside as well as a coat of green on the underside of the tanks. The Hi-Decals colour calls suggest Humbrol 02 Emerald Green for for this green. Looking at this photo posted by @Diego a couple of years ago though, I reckon it looks like a paler green than my tin of 02 anyway so I have gone for Hu 131. A mid green which I think will show up the lightning flashes which are clear in the centre part of the decals, just nicely. I think I might be looking for a slightly paler version of Dark Sea Grey to maintain the contrast visible on the wings too. Steve.

That looks great, in spite of the curl balls it threw at you, you identified the reasons my Minicraft 757 languishes in the to sell stack. Best I get A into G & sell it before the Zvezda kits become common again. Fwiw, I think the tail decal looks really good over the silver. 👍 Steve.

Very much looking the goods here John, good save on the decals. Steve.

A few books this week. Thanks to @Pete in Lincs a copy of Michael Caine's "Blowing the Bloody Doors Off" from a local 2nd hand book seller & from Amazon a couple of books to get free postage. "Gone the Dark Night" by Graham Clayton, a follow up to his "Last Stand in Singapore" I read recently & the story of the recreated 488(NZ) sqn as a night fighter unit. Also, "To Save an Army", the story of the Stalingrad airlift by Robert Forsyth, a topic I've long been curious about, this should satisfy most of that I feel. Steve.

He has navigated around all that quite well so far. 🤞 & well deserved Dimitry, you've a very brave & determined Mumma cat there. Well done her. Steve.

That is happening already, just in front of their purchase becoming my idea. Steve.

Brilliant. Thanks Shaun. There is not one there I wouldn't like to model but the Phantoms were an especial treat. This one really set my heart racing. Steve.

Another beauty Roman, I always look forward to seeing your work. Steve.

That has come up wonderfully well Ian. 👍 Steve.

A great outcome to this, it does look very good on your base indeed. 👍

That is very smart, maybe a bit more depth to the cowl intakes might have been worth doing, your 5th from last photo shows that up a bit, other than that, quite superb. 👍 Steve.

That looks really good. 👍 Steve

Not so long ago, Mrs Hnz put new curtains in our lounge. I wasn't convinced it was a good idea but since when has that been taken into consideration. It took Jonesy, the youngest & most lunatic of our two Burmese, very little time to figure they were easier to climb than the previous ones, so up he goes, paw over paw till he gets to the curtain rail from where he gets a back paw onto that & boostes himself onto the window sill, I'm guessing the view from up there is not bad. It is close to 9' up to there. Getting down involves getting front paws onto curtain rail, swinging himself around & then backing down till he feels low enough to jump. I'm picking there are more new curtains in our not distant future, maybe Kevlar ones this time. Steve.

It's largely together now & I think mainly square, though sometimes when I eye it up I think the fin is a bit on the wazoo. If ever a kit needed a spar form of construction this is it. 😠 Had I realised how difficult I was going to find getting things together, I'd have planned something early in the piece but by the time I realised the wing & tail locations were only there to get you in approximately the right place, it was too late. Some more clean up to do but I think it'll come up looking OK in the end. I think I need a bigger in process photo background too. As the largest kit I have built since an Airfix Stirling about 55 years ago, this has been a revelation in other ways, like I'm going to need a bigger canister to store it in. Steve.

So do I, why didn't I think of doing that? Steve.

Online refs for the Aquilon are pretty pee poor really, maybe different if you're a French speaker. The Tasman update kit I'm using is for a 202, the early 2 seat Venoms had them & all, afaik, single seaters. It appears the RAF & RN stopped fitting them after the NF2 & FAW 20 & maybe the earlier ones had them removed but the Aeronavale appears to have kept them right through, again, afaics. If you want a copy of the Aquilon drawing from the update kit, PM me your email & I'll scan & send mine to you. Steve.

Those Meccano mag articles were very much grist to my mill as a twelve year old, I'd long wanted to do this one but when Venturer, now Jays, did their injection conversion, I declined to take your way any further. I did use one of their Mk I conversions to do the Mk V prototype HM595 a year or so back, reducing the horizontal tail planes was quite a task. I tend to feel that HM599 probably had the larger tail planes from the word go, the photo @Troy Smith has posted above with the car door type canopy certainly appears to have the larger tail planes judging by their closeness to the transport joint with its fishplate reinforcement. The early Typhoon tail planes had an obvious gap back to their leading edge from this joint. I'll watch this with interest. Steve.

Nice build Alain, it's always good to see Kiwi subjects portrayed. 👍 Steve.

It may have been me jumping to conclusions due to having often seen the Gurney Nutting coupe called the Blue Train car but have never heard of the Embiricos car being similarly mentioned. Sorry for the thread drift @Noel Smith Steve.

Dave, I think you might be confusing the Embericos Bentley with the Gurney Nutting coupe that Barnato had made. The actual Blue Train Bentley was an H J Mulliner saloon. The Barnato Hassan Bentley featured recently in this post by @Sabrejet in the spot of the day thread, second photo down. Steve.

I was a bit perplexed as to how I missed this thread, the hop harvest & subsequent lack of mojo explained the first part, you 3 week hiatus got me off the hook neatly for the rest, so I'm now reporting for duty, mojo restored & full of go, sort of. Your adventures with the Brengun kit don't inspire confidence, but having a Redroo conversion as well, the one I have might find itself being rehomed. I'll tag along for the rest & try to keep up. The work on the Airfix Typhoon looks the goods. Steve

Jag back end on a Pony car. I wonder how common that is in real life. It'd be a great combo though & I like the way you've handled it. 👍 Steve.

That interior looks everso sharp. Not having built one of these yet, it is good to see how it comes up. You're making it look easy so far. Steve.

I did some more on this tonight after actively avoiding it in favour of my other builds. Came the time I could avoid it no longer so I attacked the engine/cowl/wing joints with varying sized sanding sticks, files & bits of sand paper. It's better, not great but as good as I can be stuffed. The wing joins fill me with horror still & I'm not sure they are going to want to attach at the same angle. Photos tomorrow, perhaps. Steve.