Aircraft Content

Remember the old boy running the small canteen down on the APC line, in the building built onto the hanger, first time we walked in he was shouting 'Sexy orange juice, the sexiest Orange Juice on the whoooooooooole of the ffffing Island

Spot on review Mike. Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago and it won’t be sitting around in the stash for long. James

I'm I bow to your superior knowledge, I'm only repeating what it says in the book. John

Nice work Colin. I have a couple of Jason’s 2 stage merlins tucked away. One for an nf36 and another for a bomber like yours. Keep up the good work. James

A short summary: The USAF F-4C/D and RF-4C had non-slotted stabs. The slots came in with the F-4E (thanks to F-4J development) -- more down force was needed to raise the longer/heavier E nose on rotation. The F-4G, being a modified F-4E, had slots. USN/USMC F-4J, then B/N and F-4S, RF-4B had slots. A great writeup on Tommy Thomason's site is here. Gene K

Thank you! Acrylics totally recommended! The pros are several: no toxic fumes, 15-30 min (even less with a hair dryer) for the paint to dry, water soluble, lots of excellent brand with hundreds of colors... You will have to get use to use a primer for the paint, but that is not a problem. Good luck!

Love it ! Very nice build

Really nice nostalgia build. Old kits are often really challenging to build neatly and you really pulled it off , especially in a scheme like that which really demands neat and tidy workmanship.

Excellent progress on the build but more importantly great news on the wee fella. Cheers, Alistair

many thanks Dave

I managed to get back to the bench and this particular model today - the past few days were spent getting other models finished for various GB's on BM. Deadlines focus my attention! For a change of direction, I am now working on the RB211 engines - I will return to the white/blue demarcation line on the fuselage at a later time! The engine components have been cut out and the flash removed: I have numbered the halves to hopefully prevent any mistakes at the assembly stage! Once built, it is pretty obvious where each engine pod is located.

Another step forward yesterday. I’ve started to build up the doppler(esk) antenna underneath. This is 3 different sizes of the same thickness plasticard to make a flat surface on the curvature of the model. Gaps filled and when it’s satisfactory I’ll throw on a square of 10 thou plasticard and add the forward/aft centre rib. The 2 clear drops are to be thinned down in height . I’ve noticed the holes on the side section above the canopy just behind the intakes. I drilled holes and with a fine pointy scalpel opened them up. The lower square holes were given a backing of plasticard. Whilst the fi

Thanks @bigbadbadge, @2996 Victor, @Gondor44, @bbudde and @giemme. Oh Feck!!!!. Late Sunday night I decided to fit the oil cooler and air intake. The oil cooler fitted lovely, no problems , but the air intake!!!!!! Something amiss here.... All is lined up etc so will now decide what to do next. Coffee, that`s the answer LOL. All comments welcome. Simon.

I think it's the Yellowjack scheme that's going to be the draw for this boxing

That's a bit defeatist. I've always found sand and test, repeat as necessary to be the best method to make anything fit. If there are gaps, fill them carefully, and remember that you can always take a bit more off, but it's more difficult to add it back again

That is a brilliant job on this, I really like the Greek scheme, I've a Kinetic 1/72 F-16D kit with this scheme & some Model Maker decals to do likewise with a F-16C. One day. Plus some MM decals for their F-4Es, so yes, I like this scheme & you've got it so well. Steve.

After allowing for the angle and the shadow, they look much the same to me. However the earlier Airfix ones do seem to have too small an opening and this could usefully be widened, but the later ones have too squared an appearance with tighter corners than the original. Perhaps an unwitting(?) compromise between standard and tropical?

Great model. Did the same

Any idea what this variant is called?

Not only great photography, but a suitably restrained number of photos showing the Gannet in all its glory. As others have said, an eye-catching and impressive build of an iconic naval aircraft. And we didn't have to wade through 48 photos of every last panel line, rivet and stencil to appreciate what a nice job you've made of it, Pat ! Thanks for that ! Best, Rog

I think I remember 72modeler at the Modelfiestas in San Antonio. Dibbles was the last to close.

Tamiya do a range of 'clear' colours that are useful if used judiciously. I use them for the blue and green tints on chopper canopies. You do have to be careful if brushing as they can be streaky if not not thinned with some Flow Improver. The more coats the darker the tint becomes. By painting in the inside the plastic gives a coating that improves the look rather than painting the exterior. However, I would blanch at trying to get that metallic smoke shade of modern jets. I know some kit manufacturers, especially of F-35s provide a tinted canopy.

I would love to see any of XZ993 that you might have from down South?

Wow!! That looks really good. Nicely done! I have it in my stash and indeed it looks like one of Airfix's better kits from back then. Hope mine comes out as well as yours (when I get to it)! Miguel

Now, Nick, surely you can see that 'evolved over time' and 'making it up as they go along' do in essence mean the same thing?