Col.

The past week has been mainly spent waiting for paint to dry so that I could then glue some parts together and then wait for that to set before I could then paint more parts and wait for it to dry. At least that process has got me to here now With the much-modified figure of Maj. Anderson installed in the much-modified cockpit we're now waiting for the blob of Microscale's Kristal Klear to dry and represent his face mask. A little more detail painting and the unit will get installed into the fuselage. While on the subject of the fuselage, and the fallow time when waiting for paint and glue to dry, there's been a little more work done elsewhere The tailwheel undercarriage doors needed some packing pieces installed to ensure they sit level with the fuselage, the jetpipe piece is in place, and supporting tabs glued in to take the front undercarriage doors. All this means I can close the fuselage halves round the cockpit unit once it's ready. Reading through the book over the weekend impressed upon me the fact that everyone involved, be they the US, Cuban, or Soviet personnel, were living with a genuine fear that even the slightest action by any of them had a high potential to inspire nuclear war. The stress they endured during these missions must have been horrendous.

The result you've produced looks to have been well worth the effort you expended JB

Is the right hand side lever for another purpose? Such as a glider towing release mechanism. (Yes, as you can tell, I've no idea what I'm talking about and clutching at straws now.)

Lovely result on the Seafire Chris

Both your current work and the potential of Plan B have the makings of a good result Rob.

Ah damn. I'm not laughing at all Alex All I can offer by way of compensation is that you've proved you are capable of creating this detail so perhaps it was a practice session. Your decision to model K4288 as an example of the many otherwise unremarked machines which gave good service to no fanfare is an admirable one.

You've picked a lovely set of subjects to work on

I'll resist the temptation to comment upon how nice your pink bits look...

Gorgeous subject choice Colin

What a lovely subject choice

I was specifically thinking of the A-4 kit Giampiero and must apologise for not stating that clearly. You raise a good point about the lack of an alternative MB326 kit - a lovely aircraft that, like its stablemate the 339, deserves more attention. It is a pity the various 3D decal producers do not offer (so far as I know) sets to enhance the cockpit of those Italeri kits as they are the ideal blank canvas to lay such items on. Yes, hence why I stressed when they can be found, all too often reviews go to length at highlighting the positive factors in a kit and make scant if any mention of its faults. In many cases it's only when someone who knows the subject well has purchased the kit and set about working on it that the problems are exposed. With regard to prices around the world, I suspect transportation costs are also a significant factor that must be considered. Where's the fun in that?

@Marlin you certainly have a varied selection of kits and decals there Bosse

Of course. Always a pleasure to see your work.

Yeouch! The cheapest I've seen was a C on Amazon for less than £25 delivered but normal retail seems to be around £33 for both the A & C here in the UK. Thank you Alex. Hopefully I'll have sufficient usable decals from between the Caracal and Airfix sheets to cover my needs but will keep your kind offer in mind. Thanks Cliff but doing the straight and simple panel lines of the flying surfaces may have lulled me into a false sense of ambition over ability - the more involved fuselage panels are waiting for me

Sorry to learn you're not getting the time to model as much as you'd like Alan but hope that the other things taking up that time are enjoyable. You will of course always be made welcome any time you can join us.