stever219

It's a semi-inflatable radome for a search radar installed on SeaKings converted to AEW. 2s during the Falklands War.

@PatG there's a photo of R5556 possibly taken at AFDU at Duxford showing the mid-upper "taboo track" fairing installed. Sadly for @MACALAIN it also shows the squadron code letters to be smaller (35 or 36 inch diameter?) then the later standard 48 inches and the aircraft letter to be smaller than these (24 inches?) I'll join you in the Nitpickers Anonymous bunker.........😖😖😖🙄

I didn't know that they'd called the F-104 Lightning, even briefly.

The use of 0 as a first digit has been in vogue at the Misery of Disarmament for a few years now; it seems to have been inflicted mainly on the Hawk and Typhoon fleets in the ZK- serial ranges. You may already have noticed that the hitherto-sequential allocation of serials has also all but ceased, for example the A400Ms in the ZM400+ range had their numbers allocated long before the ZM134+ range of the F-35 fright-thing too. ZZ serials were allocated for aircraft not officially on the UK military's books, most notably the C-17 and A330 fleets which were and are leased respectively.

Lovely job there @aerotechi. Anti-flash V-bombers were rarely, if ever, seen covered in crud as depicted by some modellers, although areas around the engine bays were sometimes quite grubby: I think you've caught the in-service appearance quite nicely. You don't need to worry about serial number colours on '818 either; they were either Pale Blue or Night, never a dark blue.

They should've chopped it down a bit further to make a skateboard.

@Carlo1963 I'd be proud to have that model on my shelf all day long. Sadly G-AWZT was the jet lost over (then) Yugoslavia in a mid-air collision with an Inex-Adria Aviopromet DC-9 on 10th September 1976: was this one of the kit markings options or your own choice? (just curious, no agenda).

There are; parts E7 and E8, top right in the image of the clear sprue above.

8 Squadron had a secondary Search and Rescue commitment and often flew with at least one set of Lindholme Gear in the bay.

Sprue D, top row, parts 15 and 16, just above one of the instrument panels and an early-span wingtip.

Sprue D, top row, parts 15 and 16, just above one of the instrument panels and an early-span wingtip.

You're a brave man taking this one on @Dr. Quack . In addition to filling in the "panel lines" on the rudder you might want to consider doing the same for most of the rest of the panel lines; they're all far too deep and wide. Other "little" jobs are the fin root leading edge which needs cutting back, and adding the rear fuselage skin doubler plates from thin plasticard or thick paint. @canberra kid is your go-to man here.

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Sorry I've got to disagree with you, that looks fine as it is.

@Paul J beautifully done, total nostalgia!

The intake under the starboard wing root is for the APU and was standard fit on B. 2s, SR. 2s and K. 2s. There's a circular depression aft of this which is meant to represent the APU exhaust and could really do with deepening, or a short length of tube inserting.

The serial number is unique to a given airframe, although some extensively rebuilt airframes, for example some Hurricanes and, more recently, the Nimrods converted to MRA. 4 standard, were given new serial numbers to reflect their change of mark. I do not recall any instances of Mustangs of any mark being allocated new serial numbers after modification (the Mk, X prototype may have done but I can’t presently get to my references to check). Squadron codes and individual aircraft identity letters were, appropriately enough, applied at unit level and both could vary throughout the life of the unit and its aeroplanes; there are plenty of examples of more than one aircraft having worn a particular letter, K in the case of the Mustang in question, and of Squadrons changing their code letters throughout their lives, e.g. 617 Squadron using AJ, KC and YZ in turn or 3 Squadron using QO, JF and J5. One aircraft could have worn more than one individual letter throughout its time on any given squadron if moved between flights or as various pilots appropriated it as their own. Please note that RAF units are not 1st Squadron, 19th Squadron or 427th Squadron, they’re, for example, 1 Squadron, 222 Squadron, 1453 Flight or 71 Maintenance Unit. Some have role designations in their titles, e.g. 2 (Army Co-operation) Squadron, IX( (Bomber) Squadron or 43 (Fighter) Squadron and others have location or affiliation designators, i.e. 139 (Jamaica) Squadron or 249 (Gold Coast) Squadron. RAF heraldry, tradition and organisation can be just as fascinating and absorbing as the equipment that the Service has operated throughout its lifetime.

There may have been more than one Mustang wearing the identity MT-K, you need to identify the aeroplane by its serial number, e.g FR919, usually painted just forward of the tailplanes. Mustang camouflage schemes are a bit of a bag of nails hiding cunningly in a can of worms: many were shipped to the UK Iin crates and it was not unknown for sets of wings to be mated to fuelages other than those with which they had been built and painted, resulting in discontinuities in the camouflage patterns.

Strewth!! I have no idea how the colour balance/tone is set on my phone just now but on the swatch the new Xtracolour looks closest in hue but is rather dark. However on the tailplanes the Hatake looks closest but maybe a bit too blue.

The wheel weathering's fine, but I share your concern about the PRU Blue. My Humbrol 230 doesn't appear to be a very good match either and I've not yet cracked open my Colourcoats yet to do a comparison.

How about dissolving them in a bottle of liquid cement to make filler?

@Roland Pulfrew the wingtip fit is quire good, but if you do find or feel that the joints need filling just slap a couple of pieces of masking tape over the lights and then fill and sand with (near) impunity. Is your AK paint suitable for hairy stickery or is it for scare brushing only? Asking for a fiend who can't find a good replacement for old school Humbrol 78.

@Starfighter the canopy frames on this kit are reasonably well defined (I have the 'D-5 and 'K boxings) so it's not too much of a bits-ache to mask off using ordinary masking tape.

A brief trawl of the Walkaroiund pages for the Buccaneer is inconclusive: all of the subjects are in various stages of preservation or dereliction and some are considerably shonkier than others. My memory is that undercarriage legs and wheels are a light blue-grey close to Humbrol 127 whilst structural members and door interiors are close to Humbrol 196 or 147. Engine intake colours vary, some being Dark Green, others various shades of grey. Light Aircraft Grey was being introduced as the RAF's underside colour of choice around the time that their first Buccaneers were being built and those acquired from RN stocks were repainted using the new colour rather than the preceding High Speed Silver (no repetition of the Sky and Ocean Grey shortages here!).

502 Squadron RAuxAF, the same unit (and camouflage scheme) as depicted by the old FROG kit and also over Malta. I'd have liked to have seen WR120 with her black nose and fins almost head on and at low level against a sun-blasted middle-eastern desert under a deep blue sky but that's just me being an awkward cuss.