Dave Fleming

The H-20 also introduced the sealed waist gunner window as opposed to the open position on the earlier versions. The kit subjects have the open one but I wonder if Airfix provide an unused alternative? Aircraft of 100 Group says aircraft with the Emerson turret has the turret faired in with doped canvas over the outside of the nose

Partially why I asked if it was consistent across multiple airframes - If I recall at least one mk XIX was re-engineered to use an ex- Shackleton Griffon for example, which ,any or may not affect things. If the same discrepancies exists across both surviving mk 24s compared to mk 14s/19s then it’s a thing. If it’s only different on one mk 24 then it might be how that was restored for example.

Across multiple airframes? Need some red lines on some side views ! 🙂

The larger window came in in H-20 on the FO series. The plastic from Airfix is H-1to15

Looking at the ones you should be able to build form the Airfix kit, Aircraft of 100 Group gives the following as the individual aircraft codes of 233 Squadron (6G - ) I've not seen a photo of any of these, but imagine their config would be similar to other 233 Squadron Libs I don't have the AB Liberator in RAF and Commonwealth Service book to triple cross-check (and it's a bit expensive these days!). TS523 - D TS525 - H TS527 - Q TS528 - R TS536 - G - note it gives the US serial as 42-94981, which would be an H-20-FO TS521 - F (only given by US Serial, 42-52483) It also gives TS538 (No known US serial or mark) as being used by 1699 Flight as 4Z-B. Streetly also gives a couple of serials that aren't in the AA-NA book, but as the latter is more recent I'd tend to take those,

From Consolidated Mess (I have it as an ebook)

One of the main differences is in the additional windows in the nose in the later blocks. One use for RAF might be a 100 Group aircraft - 233 Squadron had a number of H-15-FOs transferred from the USAAF

Deck space would be one reason. It was certainly possible, and the wing fold mechanism was strengthened to allow it with Martels

@neilfergylee Coming back to,this very late but I found a follow up article in Aeromilitaria Winter 2012 which reproduced parts of an interim accident report into the crash of VT347. It confirms the PR5 designation (it actually uses PR.V) and the two underfuselage cameras, but more interestingly reveals that it crashed on it’s third flight, not it’s first. It had a total flying time of 1 hr 3 mins. It also suggests failure of the tail transport joint rather than the more commonly reported side skins as the cause, but the author stresses that its an interim report.

50 years better. The ESCI/Italeri one is nice too, albeit an AV-8A or early GR3 rather than a GR1 Again, ESC/Italeri isn’t bad I’d put the Fujimi one a distant second. Interestingly they were designed by the same people, but they refined the designed for the ESCI one You may find some conversion kits out there too And convert back to Gr5 with an aftermarket nose or the nose from an old Airfix Gr5/7/T10 Looking at the two-seaters, Sword for the first gen kits (Literally a copy of the Esci kit converted to a T-Bird) and either Airfix or Sword for the TAV-8B/T10.

The box art does, but the actual kit didn’t. Which does raise an interesting question, the design of the intakes on that kit is a bit strange, I’ve wondered if they were a late design change when they realised the production aircraft had the faired exhaust fairings. I keep hoping one of the smaller manufacturers (e.g. Sword, Modelvisit) does a Kestrel.

I think the GO is painted over or toned down - note the individual letter under the 31. The codes are too dark for sky, and probably too dark for MSG. The roundel looks a bit weathered too, the 31 matches the fin flash white . Light spinner is interesting however this photo gives a different impression

Nice pic on P5 showing P-40N OD with Medium Green ‘splotches’.

The FSD and first production batch of AV-8Bs had the double doors too - currently have AV-8B FSD#1 on the table from the 1/72 Airfix kit, which needs them made. It's a bit messy because the two doors are longer than the single door that replaced them, so need to come further forward on the intake The YAV initially flew without LERX at all - again, currently carving the LERX off the Airfix kit for 8B FSD#1, which is easier than the intakes. If doing one with LERX, I'd use the Airfix or Hasegawa wings but note the engine deck is AV-8A. The Italeri wing doesn't have the LERX, but are 'plug in wings' without the centre section, so not great. Carving LERX is the better option IMO Hi Toby, as befits a prototype, the YAV-8B went through a few changes - LERX is mentioned above, the other thing to watch is the 'step' on the fuselage behind the wing trailing edge, which was added during development, so isn't on the early aircraft. Other things: - YA had the forward 'zero scarf' nozzles; - LID dam between the gun pods - gun pods are the AV-8C versions with the LID strakes on them - Pylons on the YA were a different shape (Subtle but noticeable in some ways); Initially flown with just inner and middle pylon - No airbrake on the YA - no wing fences or vortex generators, at least initially. fences were added later but different to production Nice Flickr album here - the last shot shows the double doors really well. If you are on Facebook, Aviation in Scale's Gallery has some in progress shots of Craig's conversion that shows some of these things - it's in 1/48, and I have to admit some of them I wouldn't bother with in 1/72! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.925931447888684&type=3 I've got more info in the files at home, happy to help with any Qs

WK293