John B (Sc)

Thanks Richard. Did Revell ever re-issue the Renwal 'Skysweeper' AA gun ? That was one I enjoyed making as a kid.

Some fine new issues and several excellent re-issues there ! I found the Sherman tank re-issue illustration interesting. That looks very like the old Renwal style box art. Does anyone know if Revell ended up with some Renwal moulds? It would be terrific if so; there some fine armor (mostly US stuff, hence the spelling) models in the old Renwal range.

I heard it was Wonderland Models last time ? Or is it that one inadvertently said something and others followed quickly?

Not unlike 'iainpeden' I have beenr eading about Wellington & Napoleon - at Waterloo (Bernard Cornwell) and also dipping into 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor. I say dipping in because it was a such an appalling grind of a battle or campaign; too depressingto read excpt bin short bursts. So to cheer myself up I read some Terry Pratchett - 'The Truth' - which is one I probably skim read years ago. Now my wife has bought me a copy of my own so I can enjoy PTerry's superb writing slowly. Real pleasure. Always has a moral message buried beneath the light hearted joy and his wonderful way with words.

I think a 1/48th Jaguar T2 is a near certainty in the futiure, but probably too soon after the release of the single seater for now. A 1/48th Sea King HAR3 is also a racing certainty, maybe not this time round, for same reason. Two seat Lightnings? - Would be nice, though between Sword's kits and cross kitted Matchbox two seaters, a fair bit of the market is taken. Still would be nice ! However, there is no good Hunter two seater in any scale except vac-form or conversion in 1/32 ( and Revell's release later this year, we hope). A few 1/48 conversions were offered but surely a full 1/72 or 1/48th two seater Hunter would sell well. So many scheme options over so mnay years. And a good Scimitar or Sea Venom would be terrific in 1/48th. Re-issuing the Classic SkyKings ought to sell well ? Or more of the older naval kits - has the old HMS Daring been issued as a Classic? (I may well have missed it - a kit from my childhood) And the 'Old Bill' bus? Does anyone think a new 1/35th Centurion has any mileage ?

Thanks Dennis. My recollection of using tautening dopes - on old fashioned sailplanes, as WiP evidemtly did - was that we lightly brushed on a coat of thinned red dope (50:50 mix as I recall) but the brushing was a very light horizontal stroke, not stippling. The aim was to get the dope to penetrate just into the fabric weave to key in and start to seal it, without going through and 'blobbing'. We did test pieces first to check. I do remember feeling quite light headed occasioanlly. The old hands recommended drinking lots of milk to help. (When I later did some fibreglass work I found we really had to stipple to get enough through the matrix to provide adhesion, then rolled to squeeze out the excess and keep weight down. Quite a different technique ! )

Absolutely. You could perhaps go a stage further and convert her to modelling... (I am lucky ; my wife is not only a pilot but also a modeller. Though there is of course a small downside- the stash is knowlegeably assesssed, so random sneaky additions won't fly. But appropriate additions are easily allowed ! )

This looks truly superb ! I thought the earlier mention of a 'November 2025 release' was optimistic. Well worth waiting for, but I'd better get on with my Echelon kit meantime... My first pre-order hasi been in for a while. I think a second maybe called for. Thank you Warwolf - keep up the good work ! John B

Delighted to hear Airfix are including masks now, especailly for spiral spinner schemes ! . Can I hope that seatbelts are also included - in this scale they make a huge difference. It's not my area, partly thanks to earlier challenges with large scale 109s and 190s, but glad to see how well the idea has been welcomed and that new or ~updated~ versions of these large kits are still considered worthwhile. Please don't wince or pile in too much, Luftwaffe 'experten' - to me a 109G is most simply an update on the old 109E Airfix produced ! Yes, I think I can hear the winces and sighs... I may even manage to avoid buying one, though that engine detail looks mouthwatering. John B

My personal bet is on a bomber version of the Mosquito, since that re-uses quite new moulds and adds a new machine easily to their lists. And the BIV is the bonniest ofthe Mosquitoes ! That said, a Hurricane has to be a strong contender. I have one of the old mouldings currently part built and another in the stash so that would be mildly annoying(ish). But - a Lightning (EE of course) or a Corsair or a Tempest would be nice, Just not a ruddy F-35 Airfix please, never that. Ugly damn things !

Thanks Dave. It was a long time ago and memory fades...

If it helps at all. my recollection from long ago was that the first season of the Red Pelicans used all dayglo aircraft, but that had a fairly hefty weight penalty assocaited witn it and was replaced with an overall red scheme later in the team's life. Even the uprated T4 didn't have much spare power ! Also, dayglo paints faded quickly and were easily tarnished, which may have been another factor in the change. It was a long time ago and my memory could well be at fault, so I will be intrigued to hear what others remember. John B

I'm intrigued by your comments about the Sea King vis-a-vis the S-61 (I guess the -N veriosn?), Wez. Since the SeaKing had higher ppered engines I presume your 'undrepowred' comment is becasue ofyhje higher AUW of the Sea King? And handling - was it the extra length which improied S-61 N handling? I'd agree the S-61N had the most comfortable - and reassuring - ride of any helicopter I flew in. John B

I bought a couple from that pile ! Happy days.

To be honest this sounds more and more like an accident which had been waiting to happen, thanks to procedures which sound to have far too many potential failure points. Essentially this seems to rely on perfect human performance every time. Far too tight a set of margins and reliance on visual identification at night. I'd suggestthose at higher level in the operations, both in ATC Management and in the military command should look carefully at what has been permitted - perhaps due to progressive 'creep' over time. A visual ident at night in a brightly lit busy environment like Washington is dubious; I'm surprised visual separation is allowed., Since it apparently was part of routinely permitted ATC operation, the controller was simply following normal practice in approving that request. The helicopter wass apparentl;y conducting routine familiarisation or re-familiarisation as part of their operational tasking. It sounds as if that includes (potentially) use of NVGs, no doubt something which needs considerable practice. Use of NVGs according to colleagues who have used them, does considerably impede scan and it makes keeping a wider situational awareness harder. Any night visual flying is hard, and I imagine very low level especially over and around a brightly lit city is much tougher. I wonder if the military authority was asking too much, with the extraordinary tight tolerances required here. Each time, every time. The preference will always be to ease higher whenver possible. Height spacings between traffic on such routes should take that into account. All in all, perhaps too much reliance on "it's always been OK". A simple either-or rule could have prevented this, but 'normalisation' of the risks means we don't seethe nbeed for that. Either clear an aircraft on that approach or clear a helicopter along that route. Not both simultaneously. A 200ft maximum height limit helicopter route when an aircraft may be down to 300-350ft on finals is too tight. (Hence of course the expectation of a horizontal separation as well. ) Oh blast it - so sad, so needless.