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After many hours of assembly, I got around to laying down a couple of coats of satin varnish and things were looking nice. I then removed the canopy masking and to my horror I found the inside of the canopy has overspray ... The reason? Well the original aircraft did not have a sealed canopy ... there rear of the canopy had a gap and true to the original, the kit is the same ... I overlooked this when I masked the canopy and the overspray from my airbrush found its way inside. So now I need some advice. Any thoughts on how to get the canopy off without destroying things so that I can polish the clear area? Thanks, Steve

From my limited documentary sources, the Admiralty seem to have been experimenting with submarine camouflage from 1938. According to Confidential Book 03016/39 'Progress in Tactics' 1939 ed., trials in 1938 had confirmed that blue paint produced the best result in the Mediterranean and that International Black produced the least 'aura'. As part of an exercise, some submarines were painted olive green with a matt finish and although olive green had been proved to be the most suitable colour for operations off Singapore during January and February, it was thought that this may not be the best for later in the year. This was being investigated. After this, the next document I have that mentions green being used for the camouflage of submarines is Confidential Admiralty Fleet Order 2269/44 'Camouflage of H.M. Ships and Vessels - Standardisation' dated 12 October 1944. Under the heading 'Scheme J' Submarines on Foreign Stations could be painted as follows. "Paint black or very dark blue, grey or green at the discretion of Captain (S)." This can be found in subsequent Orders untill the end of the war. I have not seen a Standard of the shade(s) of green used for this purpose. Given that the green finish appears in CAFOs, it would seem that it was an official Admiralty scheme, but there seems to be no indication of its hue. Presumably there would have been a formula published for it somewhere at some time, possibly only locally on China Station and or later within the Eastern Fleet that has not yet come to light. The Navy had a disposition to mix its own paints as can be seen by various AFO and CAFOs, so the formula for PB.10 included in CAFO 2269/44 might hold good for the olive green colour but using different pigments. The RAF colour Dark Green that was an olive green hue was originally made using Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Lithopone, a white pigment and Black.These pigments, or something like them can be found in the 1938 Rate Book of Naval Stores under the heading 'Pastes for Paints' where Admiralty Pattern 52P, Ochre AP 8P Blue, ultramarine, AP 110c Black and AP 104 Zinc Oxide, White are listed, the latter two materials being quoted as constituents of PB.10 in CAFO 2269/44 while the Black was used in a number of camouflage colours in use during 1944 such as A1.G5 also quoted in CAFO 2269/44. To make an olive green, it would presumably have been a case of working out the proportions of the Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Black and White that gave the desired colour. If we go down the SCC avenue with regard to the hue of the olive green colour, a better suggestion might be SCC No.13. This was included in the original 1939 SCC range and is said to have been used in India by the British Army as an overall finish on various types of vehicle. It has been claimed to have been referred to colloquially as either 'jungle green' or 'dark green'. It was retained in BS 987C of 1942 and the Standard for this colour I have seen looked to my eye to be something like FS 34086, but was a bit darker. This might possibly be described as 'olive green', 'dark olive colour', 'slime green' or 'dark green'. It also has the virtue of having existed from at least 1939 when RN Submarines in the Far East are first described as being a shade of green. At the risk of initiating thread drift, the only mention I have come across of the Royal Navy using SCC colours to paint warships is related to a number of MTBs that were used along the Norwegian coast during what are described as 'lurking operations' from 1943 until the end of the war. Here the intention was to help conceal the vessels from aerial and surface observation whilst lying against the rocky shore of the fiords in wait for passing targets. The colours used originally were SCC 1A (a dark brown), 7 (a green) and 14 (black); but this was subsequently modified by dispensing with the black and introducing SCC 4 (a light brown) and 5 (described as being "Stone Colour", a lighter shade of brown). This scheme was introduced at the request of the Admiral commanding Orkneys & Shetlands during 1943 and to the best of my knowledge, never appeared in AFOs or CAFOs. I have no idea what the technical specification of the paint used for this purpose was.

anyone know if the spitfire MK V and the MK IXe shared the same canopy? i have an eduard MK IXe that needs a new canopy and i also want to get a MK V kit. i would rather kill two birds with one stone here and buy one kit and use the extra canopy in it. Thanks- Joe

Great build, very nice rescribing !

Yes it is. But I can't think of anyone who could finally make a better kit. For the majority, kit from Eduard has already become the best. It's affordable. And, in the future, almost all modifications will be produced. They build great. For most people, geometry inaccuracies don't matter. The fact is that Eduard could have made a better model 109F and G in 72, like the Spitfire Mk.9/8/16. But they just made a slightly improved downscale. Series G by Eduard have the same geometric dimensions as F. They have all the same disadvantages. And if you want to put the G-6 from Eduard and the G-6 from Tamiya next to each other, then all the differences will be noticeable. And if you want to compare Tamiya parts to Eduard parts... and count millimeters... Then Eduard will stop making you happy. But since we are talking about Tamiya, this is a standard 109G-6 WNF/MTT, without additional guns. Eduard also offers Earla canopy, different tails, many different options. In the future there will be G-6/AS. The existing alternative from AZmodel, in general, is very inferior to the kit from Eduard. If we consider versions G-2 and 4. Then, in principle, Tamiya can be converted into these versions. But it's not easy. The existing alternatives from AZmodel and FineMolds are significantly inferior to the set from Eduard. The point is that if you need one 109G, no matter which one, then it is better to buy a Tamiya. If you want to have different versions of G, then there are no better kits from Eduard, so far there is still nothing. But personally, I wouldn't just build from a box. In my opinion, the imitation of fabric covering is not believable and needs to be corrected. Most of the imitation rivets do not correspond to the photographs, so I personally intended to simply putty all the rivets and leave only the imitation screws. By the way. What kind of options are you going to build? Perhaps I can find some photos of real planes on my HDD. I would do it like on the model from Eduard in 1/48 scale. There, these parts can only be installed at one specific angle. And this is the correct position. In reality, these parts could be in different positions, and all of them are correct.

Interior coming together, bit more details to do then getting close to closing up the fuselage.

thank you jure for this article. it at least helps to confirm all that i have read so far. unfortunately the decal sheet i ordered which i thought had same size 0's and 2's on it. it did not. the 2 is a acceptable size but the 0 is too small, it is meant for the rudder and i didn't realize it until i got the sheet. so i i do not want to buy another sheet just for the 0 therefore it will only have a 2. i will try to leave room for a 0 in case i get one later Thank you- Joe

decals (kit!) arrived tp mys surprise I found cartograf printed decals! a pity i will cut them! .. first plastic was cut! and the PE flaps etc sorted

of your secret stash (you all have that one kit that you keep for halloween to build for the plastic demons)

I think you have done a good job on the mottling Pete.

Hi all, right Im calling the porch done, its placed now - just shown a couple of my figures with it. Erk.

Thats very nice work Loren, the cockpit looks really good and you have done a great job on the assembly.

Nice build ! Regarding the Firefox, I have the Anigrand 1/72 kit. A beauty that requires some work, but not a major challenge if you are not a beginner.

End of correcting. Time for painting.

I believe that the nose gun was a standard fitting on most B-25's so I would think it has been removed, which might have been a temporary state of affairs.

A possibly good comparison 'twixt F-22 Raptor and Su-57 Felon: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-su-57-felon-is-marketed-as-stealth-fighter-but-it-has-the-same-rcs-of-a-clean-f-a-18-super-hornet-and-1000-times-bigger-than-that-of-the-f-35-heres-why/?_gl=1*1gbnope*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzM0Njg0MTU2LjE3MTQwNzE5Mzk.*_ga_BSTDKRXWSF*MTcxNDA3MTkzOS4xLjAuMTcxNDA3MTkzOS4wLjAuMA..

Birmingham Blitzkrieg was originally a 97th BG B-17E. Like many others in the group, it was originally to go to the RAF, in RAF colours. What most people forget is that it was not a standard olive drab over neutral grey. It was dark green and dark earth over light grey or sky. Photographs pre stripes, bear this out, even when used as a hack by the 379th BG, before the stripes were applied. The photographs of her post stripe application clearly show blocked out masking of the nose, serial, code letters and group insignia and the darker stripe colour is consistent underneath and on top, not variegated if only the white stripes were applied. The American Air Museum in Britain has a long side note under Markings and Paint, saying that of some ground crew, aircrew and civilians who lived near the base, none can remember red stripes, while some can’t even remember the white stripes. This note says that over 500 people were interviewed regarding this and one (1) person calling it a green and white barber pole. I would like to see the documentation on that, or a colour photo. The 379th BG history says it was often called the barber pole. Most of the barber poles I have seen are red and white, or red, white and blue. So to me it looks like whoever came up with that note, really wanted to be right. 379th BG history also mentions her being used as a target tug, and the difference between formation practice and a formation ship has me scratching my head. Next thing you know, the Spotted Cow from the 384th BG has brown dots instead of blue. For those who are interested, here’s the link. https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/41-9100 Nice work Neil, I look forward to seeing the “Flying Barber Pole”. Cheers Jeff

A couple had their first baby. After a week or so the mother thought she could use a break and went shopping leaving the little baby with the proud father. It was only a short while before the baby started to cry. The perplexed father tried all of the tricks that he remembered his wife doing but to no avail. Finally after a half hour in desperation he went to the doctor. After checking all of the regular things the doctor discovered it was just a dirty diaper. “I don’t understand the perplexed father said “I knew it was dirty, but the diaper package said specifically that it was good up to 8 pounds!” Simon.

in the dark corners

I might have "one or two" kits that could fit the bill for this Dennis. I assume that all forces involved in the theatre are eligible?

Looks great, real great And yes im with you, Florys Washes are great, And very forgiving, even adding with a brush to build up dirt, adjust with a finetip brush, almost like with oils, benefit, make pooled up dirt by water, as real deal in em underisdes, narturally, it all can be removed if not pleased with the result

Thank you very much on your kind words, Francis!🍻

Have you seen the faces of Team Sulc?

Major Agora do the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 (the Daniel Craig one) that is a current part works you can order. Very impressive. I saw one on their stand at IPMS UK Scale Modelworld last year. I think that they have already done the Miura in the past. De Agostini did the original Connery version of the DB5 a few years back, also in 1/8th scale. Have a look at Agora's website.