stever219

@Lord Riot you're welcome. Like @canberra kid I've accumulated a lot of information (but nowhere near as much as he has) on one of Mr Petter's fine aeronautical creations. I've just remembered, having seen your images, that the Airfix kit has an entirely spurious access panel on the starboard side just aft of the sloping pressure bulkhead panel line: maybe you can deal with that while you attend to the scratches round you lovely new window. (On the B. Mk. 2 and its derivatives that panel's on the fuselage spine just abaft the nav's escape hatch.)

@Lord Riot looking very nice so far. You might want to do a quick check, if you've not already done so, as some TT.18s had a window on the starboard side opposite that on the port side IIRC.

Too hot here too..... Thanks for the warning; my rivet-counting obsession will now know not to play with the starter kit.

Those are ailerons old fruit. The Spitfire had Frise ailerons where the visible lower surface chord is greater than the upper surface. With the inset hinges on the Spitfire this gives an aerodynamic balance on the up-going aileron (if you get the opportunity at an airshow you'll see quite a gap between the aileron and wing as the aileron leading edge goes down). Looking at your bits (oo-er!) the darker grey set looks closer to accurate IMHO.

You're in the Untied States and buying a kit from Japan: VAT doesn't apply. VAT is a tax levied on goods and services in the UK and was introduced when we joined the EU, replacing Purchase Tax. Although we are no longer in the EU we have retained the tax for domestic use. However I suspect the the Trumpalumpa has imposed punitive import duties on goods imported to the Untied States from Japan so you may wind up selling some of your organs to pay the charges. Good luck, this message will self-destruct in fi.............

Funnily enough, yes.

There's a road in the town where I live called Bushmead Avenue; when booking deliveries for our van crew I'd often move the "m" two places to the left....

The Airfix 1/48th Hunter F. 5/J.34 is a bit of a half-hearted effort at a small-bore Hunter; the smaller-diameter jet pipe is included, as are conversion parts to produce a straight leading edge for the wing, and an early air brake. However the centre fuselage changes required for the small-bore Avon and Sapphire engines are rather glossed over (ignored). All is not lost, however, as Aerocraft Models (no connection here, just a satisfied customer) have produced resin inserts for the upper fuselage to cater for this.

Thank you: I stand erected!

II(AC) and 31 Squadrons were the RAFG recce units, the other Jaguar units being tasked with mud-moving and buckets of instant sunshine delivery IIRC.

One of Monarch's A320s got slightly broken at the gate during offloading. Passenger disembarkation had started so the self-loading cargo at the front were already moving while those at the back were still trying to find their duty-frees and kids. Baggage offloading had also started from the front hold before the rear. The captain was standing in the cockpit doorway and noticed that the PFD had changed from "ground" to "flight" status, which normally occurs when the load on the nose wheels drops below half a ton. He was very quick off the mark, stopping the passenger offload and getting the ramp agent to stop the baggage offload at the front. Some damage had been done to the L1 door and frame as the nose leg extended and the door contacted part of the airbridge, but the aeroplane was repaired and returned to service.

The comment in the article about the Cactus 1549 crew not using the "ditching switch" ignores two things: (a) lack of time to go through the checklists which I suspect would include this item, and (b) despite some very skilful flying the impact was sufficient to rupture the pressure hull, allowing the rear baggage compartment to flood immediately (the damage was severe enough that the rear galley floor was also disrupted sufficiently to allow water ingress to the cabin). Something that the article also misses is that certification requirements also demand that all souls on board must be able to evacuate within 90 seconds with half of the exits unavailable.

I've been thumbing through Craig Bulman's tome trying to find something that I think I've seen. I've an idea that some Vulcans from the XL- batches onward (?) were delivered with fittings for TFR and a scabbed-on plate on the nose which was later replaced by the TFR radome: do you think I can find the reference? Can I eckerslike!

The F-35B development costs were always going to be far higher than for either the 'A or 'C so our self-styled so-called greatest ally mug-jobbed, sorry, persuaded us into buying early examples of it to get their money back faster. Cynical? Me?? Believe it!

@BarryBAFAiCR the radome was interchangeable between airframes so could, for example, be swapped at squadron level if any work had been done on the antenna or the radome itself. If you've not done so already try to get hold of, or access to, a copy of "The Avro Vulcan B. Mk. 2 from a different perspective" which goes into great detail on the service lives of these aeroplanes and many of the visible differences between them.

@MACALAIN please can you do something about your lighting? You're not doing the fruits of your labours any justice, especially as it's such an unusual subject from a part of the Second World War that I [also] know nothing about. Did you do a WIP please? If not please could you provide a little info on the build? This is one kit that I lusted after in my yoof but never managed to acquire an example of.

Gates Learjet; wing design "borrowed" from cancelled Sw8ss fighter project?

There was an airline based at Lydd in Kent called Janus Airways. Guess which letter of the name got obscured when passengers were taking their happy snaps on the walk out to the aeroplane?

I used to get that a lot when I worked in a charity shop; I even had one grubby oik (who probably drove a Merc or BMW) haggling over a £1 light bulb. I had another who wanted a discount on 2-packs of pillows; these were ex-a large well-known high street retailer who charged £80 each for them where our packs were 2 for £10. Every time she came on the conversation went along the lines of [her] "I pay £8." [Me] "No, you pay £10." [Her] " I pay £8." [Me] "No, you pay £12, demand has increased." She'd then retreat. This panto continued for several weeks until she came in one day asking "Pillows, £8?" at which point I pointed to the now-empty rack where they'd been and told her "All gone, all for £10!". Pillows: £10, the look on her face: priceless!

The GCU reset at 248 days is an old chestnut from the early days in service, and I expect even Boeing (for whom I have no love whatsoever) have come up with some form of "fix" or SOP change in the intervening 12 years. The failure rate tables are also of questionable value, again relevant to the early years of the type's service life where designers' hopes collide with real-world operating conditions and before ylupgrades and modifications were incorporated: two incidences of engine fuel filters not being installed could well be down to the engine manufacturer than to Boeing. The accident aircraft was line number 26, and may well have featured in the early failures reports, but I would expect by now that any problems in that period had been dealt with.

One thing that's not really been mentioned in relation to this crash is human factors. There was quite a steep experience gradient between captain and co-pilot, the former also being a training captain. There have been incidents in the past where the demeanour of the significantly more experienced pilot has resulted in the less experienced becoming demoralised, demotivated and dis-empowrred to the point that when a crisis developed they failed to make routine calls, eg. "Decision height", question non-SOP actions by the captain, attempt to take control if they considered the captain's actions to be unsafe, or to respond to system-generated cautions and warnings. I sincerely hope that it wasn't the case on this occasion, but the number of comments about flaps having been selected up instead of undercarriage as the emergency developed makes me wonder. As ever I hope that those having to deal with the bodies and wreckage will be left to get on with their jobs (I do not envy them having such a grim task) and find the answers that will make flying safer for the rest of us.

On some aircraft types the RAT drives a generator to provide power for the hydraulic pumps, on others the pum0s have their own RAT.

The Mosquito's outer covering is actually doped Madapolam fabric (surprised me too when I found out) so you shouldn't see much "detail" other than hatch, access panel and door outlines, some of which, e.g. crew door, dinghy stowage, have a narrow doubler strip around the opening.

For those watching in black and white it's going behind the blue, which is next to the pink.

But we don't have lots of red lines on the image to prove it!