Mr T

Very interesting build. I have the kit, which might appear if a Group Build survives the Bunfight. Mine will a standard bomber version.

Solid work on the Barracuda Ced. One of Mrs T's relatives had a cottage in Wells Next the Sea which we stayed in a few times when the children were younger. I like the place, we have been back on our own since then for short visits. I love the Nort Norfolk coast, a bit further along saw (and heard) a Lightning go supersonic in 1962. Impressed an eight and a half year old!

I think the old comment about there being old pilots and bold pilots, but few old, bold pilots may apply here. In my defence, I will say that I have built Pegasus kits, some early Magna kits and Mach2 kits, as well as vacforms and Genesis white metal wagon kits (think Unicraft for trains), and so going into this eyes wide shut. Tom Lehrer will accompany me https://youtu.be/TytGOeiW0aE?si=dwXHmiC5i4wqSgXw

Thanks, both the CF100 and TSR2 at Duxford are ex Cranfield. I think I prefer yellow to natural metal/silver, although it is a close run thing. Shame Cranfields Tempest II prototype was sold to the US and the Lincoln and Supermarine 545 were broken up. I have built a few Pegasus kits over the years, including his original Spitfire 24, Swift (as an F.2) and EAP. I reckon if I can build the latter, I might stand a chance. It least the wings on BP111A look to be the same thickness.

I have slowed down on my Grebe build as I may receive some upgrades, and so a search around the stash revealed this little gem from about 1985. It comes from an era when, min the urbane tones Peter Jones as the Book 'Men were Men, Women were Women, and small blue furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, were real small blue furry creatures from Alpha Centauri', in terms of building short run kits. The Boulton Paul BP111 was a research aircraft designed to explore the flight characteristics of delta wing tailess aircraft to Spec E27/46 and first flew in October 1950. Its tubby fuselage was a result of the use of a Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal flow engine. It ceased flying in 1958 and happily is still with us at the Midland air Museum. The Pegasus kit came from the hands of Chris Gannon, who, as a young modeller, had considerable competition success in the early 1980s. Pegasus kits were amongst the first generation of short run kits and were and still are definitely not for the faint-hearted. As you can see, fairly basic. For starters, it is going to need new main wheels and a new ejection seat. The trailing edges will need extensive thinning down. Cockpit detail will be minimal as a) not much to see and b) very little idea what was in the cockpit, other than it was apparently spartan. Fortunately, the plastic is fairly easy to work with. Early work has been to drill out the nose gear bay. nor the shrinkage, it is present on a couple of parts. Wish me luck

Very nicely built and displayed Starfighter. The Hasegawa kit is very nice and holds up well today. I thoroughly enjoyed my green Canadian Armed Forces one I built for a GB a little while back.

The white stuff that I think covers the tops of some of your mountains occasionally. It is getting rarer in Britain these days, some winters we havent had any this far north, even frosts seem to be less common. The Met Office had just issued a report looking at long term trends in the weather based on their recorded data, and there has been a change to hotter summers and wetter winters. Given that the Met Office has the longest continuous set of temperature records in the world (1659 to date), I am tempted to believe them.

It looks very good, although cost may limit how many I buy (definitely the NF30, and 36 if it appears, NFXV and B35, and finally my Matchbox kits can disappear). I am not to keen on the undercarriage and nacelles assembly, but I will wait until I get my hands on one.

The Intermediate Blue goes up to the fold lines on the kit. Was it really done to camouflage aircraft on a carrier deck?

Realised that the resin kit I was going to build is apparently still available at Hannants, though currently out of stock, and dates from 2000 anyway.

More work done on the Grebe. Cockpit detailed Fuselage halves added and the lower wing in place, with some fettling, and more to do. This build is going on the back burner for a while, as there may be some improved parts coming for this kit. To fill the gap, I have a couple more kits lined up. One has been sat in the stash for forty years, with a little bit of work done to it, but nowhere near the 25% mark. It was bought when I was still immortal and had the time to build everything, before reality came barging in. the other kit is a resin replacement for a vacform kit, on the grounds I am more likely to get around to building it. That was about twenty years ago.

Paint on the Corsair, photo shows it varnished for decalling, which has started but has come to a halt until the weather cools a bit, not the model or the decals just me.

My son and his friends loved this when they were early teens

As I recall, somewhat inappropriately used for an aftershave advert in the eighties, also in 'Only Fools and Horses' well. It was used appropriately in a documentary about the ad industry, if you look at the words.

A trip to Halifax, to pick up a pre ordered SBS Supermarine S4. Expensive, but a beautiful kit. Whilst there, I also picked up an Arma Curtiss Hawk A1/2. I wasn't going to buy one, as I was waiting for the A4/Mohawk IV, which is almost certain to follow. I built one of the few RAF Mohawk Is a few years back from the AZ kit, but not keen on it once finished. I quite like Mohawks/ Tomahawks, especially after seeing them fly at Duxford. Also through the post from a company in Harrogate, a new needle and nozzle for my Iwata Neo, to restore my spares stash.