nicholas mayhew

Great looking TIE! are these available in UK?

Out of interest how many individual airframes do you have though? Multiples of the same aircraft excluded etc. I imagine it's still quite a chunk!

How much is this thing meant to be in UK? it’s one of the few subjects I might consider dipping back down into 1/48 for - but then my more sane self speaks up and says ‘life is too short to build kits that are hard work!’

hi, I am interested in Spitfire R6904 which I believe was QJ-Y and flown at times by Neville Duke from Biggin Hill (per his Diary) I plan on building it using the fantastic Kōtare 1/32 Vb kit... May I ask what your basis is for including R6904 in the above ie I think you are saying it was in the B scheme? Do you have a photo? The very well known R6923 is in the B scheme also Many thanks N

this is the sort of thing I hope is covered in @Lynn Ritger's book

in 1/32 aircraft? Kōtare Hurricane rag wing Kōtare Spitfire Vb Kōtare Bf109E Eduard P-51B/C Eduard Fw190 A-8/R2 (as a prelude to the entire 190 family) Eduard Spitfire IX That's a pretty cool list right there, no? Anything by Kōtare is instantly the best kit ever of its type (I think they will sell more 109 Es than pretty much all their other kits put together) There has never been a decent P-51B/C in 1/32 and this is Eduard'd chance to show they can play in big boy scale, and they will be showcasing their 'hybrid' model of injection moulded parts for airframe etc teamed with 3DP cockpit, wheel wells etc The Hasegawa 190s are decent but old, the Revell ones are maybe their best 1/32 fighter (Hurricane II?) but I think it's still pretty easy for Eduard to raise the bar The Eduard Spitfire IX will again be another hybrid, and will make an interesting comparison to the excellent Tamiya kits I don't really pay much attention to 1/48 (and zero to 1/72) but the Airfix FG.1 Phantom is one of the few types that might tempt me back down if it's any good, and certainly seems popular here in Britmodeller land As Maximus famously said in Gladiator, "are you not entertained?"

Montex make some masks for it but - unsurpisingly - they get the shape of one of the numbers materially wrong, so you'd need to cut them yourself or commission them; the set does include the KG55 badge though, which is probably the more critical item (loads of places make masks, decals are much more tricky!) the sticking point though is of course the chin... I thought of hacking some of my Revell and Hasegawa 109s up to kitbash (now pretty much worthless, and even more so right after Christmas!) but I looked at them, looked at how beautiful the Kōtare 109s are, and thought 'life's too short'!

The second one definitely is - I’ve now remembered why - they profile the unusual Bf109 in the background - it’s a G-6 with the deeper oil cooler and ‘chin bulges’ of a G-10 with a KG55 shield & crest on the nose

Cool pics pretty sure these images are published in various ‘Luftwaffe Over Czech Territory’ JaPo books - they are well worth it if you can get your hands on them

I didn’t say they cannot make a mistake But I know they got all the material external features pretty damn close, and probably better than a number of reference books out there my original comment stands

Just have a look at the Kōtare kit - they will have got everything spot on

@Mark4700 sorry only just seen these - thank you for the detailed explanation Merry Christmas 🎅

as said above, covered off in detail in the WIngleader Spitfire MkV book, p22 "all we are seeing is the standard Dark Green / Dark Grey scheme where, due to the fading of the paint and a visual illusion, the green appears brown..." No idea what Eduard say, but I'd go with Wingleader over them where anything RAF is concerned.

hey Andrew, such a cool set of pics aren't they? re the oasts, i'm not sure, but my guess would be yes - they would likely still have been working oasts at the time of the war, and most were afterwards too; the majority ended up converted in the early mid-80s, and by now it's rare to see one left empty to be sure, I'd need to know near enough where this photo is - I guess it could be anywhere on the edge of the base? no invasion stripes yet and trees don't look in full leaf so this is Spring side of June, rather than after... i have a book with all the Kent ALGs in it which i think will tell me the location - if not the interwebs will no doubt have map ref... i'll try to do some digging cheers N PS it's always disappointed me that depsite having some very cool schemes, no-one has really done any decals for these aircraft save for the hard to find Lifelike set (which I have in 1/32, and used for my SkyCzar - pics on my Facebook modelling page if you are interested here)

note the oast houses in the background - can't get more Kentish than that! taken just a couple of miles down the road from me i can't wait for Eduard's P-51B/C in 1/32 to try and do justice to this bird best of luck with your project Nick