AnonymousAA72

A 14" Plug (If I remember John Adams correctly!) ? Sounds like a good idea to me Rich! Hmmmmm (How's the Meteor PR10?)

I had to dig out some photo's from a walkaround on Hyperscale for the rear decking fuselage detail. As for the Canopy "wedge", I'm still searching - though it looks fairly simple - certainly compared to the Sabre. If I remember I'll post some pic's of my FR9 tomorrow while I'm in the shop.. (Oh, and all of your stuff is in and packed, I'll be posting tommorrow!) Cheers Bill

Well, a pal of a friend, of a friend of a friend informed me (before April 1st!!) that at least ONE PR9 has been painted in an overall (UN?) white and is destined for clandestine missions over.......somewhere secret!!. I happen to also know someone who has family ties with Kemble, so I've tasked him with finding out if its true!

I'll post some pic's of my build later ...its more or less built OOB, but with a fair amount of green stuff applied!! I have an MDC update set for my second build, but plan "C" is to convert this to a Mk 21, I have a Hasegawa Vb in stock which may well form the basis of the fuselage.........whether I revert to an earlier plan or end up with plan "M" or "N" remains to be seen!!!

The camouflaged A/C was from the same Squadron - RAF No 80Sqn , not sure which individual aircraft, the silver machines were I think....603 (RAuxAF) City Of Edinburgh Sqn and an Egyptian AF aircraft....

Hiya Rich, surely that should be FG1's (given the FAA connection!). It is indeed a small world, and thats a fantastic family connection.....thanks for sharing And Jens, it may be worth contacting the PR chaps at The FAA Museum, or asking Drewe or Rory if they know someone..... Cheers Bill

Thanks Neil _ I can feel one of those 1/48th "Junglie" moments coming on again..... Gary - Airwaves do a resin set...."Junglie Conversion Set" I think Neil's busy with Mosquito's or summink!!

Ya know, I'd say £330 ain't a bad price for that kit. I'm not sure If I could afford it, but if its the same bloke, then he's been trying to sell it for a while now. Didn't he start of at a Grand, then £800....... God only know's what his reserve was this time, but perhaps he should start to consider taking the money.....Deal or No Deal time!!!

Don't worry, I've done it as well Mike!! Anyway, A few observations......... (i) The wing is a bit on the thick side, when you add the intakes and jet pipe to the nacelle you will get a step as the diameter of the nacelles is greater than both. I sanded the wings inner surfaces down a fraction (in a similar fashion to a vacuum-form kit) which went some way in alieviating both problems! (ii) The ejection seat is best replaced with something white metal - from Aeroclub maybe. (iii) there should be a solid sliding section attached to the hood - not dissimilar though not as detailed, as the Sabre. This is very apparent on the clear canopies. This section includes the curve of the fuselage, so when the canopy is closed the fuselage aft of the seat looks solid, and in line with the decking aft of the hood. The hatched section for the area behind the seat, should really be hollow. (i.e the recessed sections removed showing (I believe) fuel tanks below) (iv) I found the undercarriage unneccesarily complicated to build and over engineered. I have therefore treated myself to some more Aeroclub white metal. Saying that the nose gear is very complicated in real life, looks as if someone's added a bicycle frame to it(!) though in fairness you can't see a great deal anyway! Those are the negative's , Good news is : Its a Meteor and really nice, surface detail is top notch, there are parts for both standard and "Wide-breathers" with a clear and solid hood, AND the radio antenna dome for an Aussie machine, so virtually ANY in service F8 may be built, and the decals are fantastic. I've started to build my FR9,(having buggered up my F8! Nothing to do with the model - just the modeller!!!) and am really looking forward to the F4 and (ex-Matchbox) NF11-14 being issued - there'll be some kit bashing going on then!!! Look forward to seeing your photo's!!!

Thanks Ed, Yes but only the 1/72nd scale one - it was made from "1st Generation" resin - a bit like fibre-glass! The 1/48th conversion came with Maintracks funny pressfix(or whatever they were called!) decals. There was a Spanish company that issued an S1 intake...many years ago....

This is a good idea!! The white stripes are a little on the thin side and you may find that ther red bleeds through......Incidentally if using Acrylic paint I've found Xtracrylic's "Red Arrows" Signal red is very orange - more so than the real colour used. I found Revell's Acrlyic Aqua Color's "Feuerrot" No 31 to be a better match....

I started this project 5 or 6 years ago, and never quite got around to finishing the thing off.... Airfix 1/48th kit, with neoMega pit, the new intakes are Milliput over the kits "SAAF" slipper tanks One of the main stumbling blocks in completed her was the lack of commercially available decals, well now that Model Alliance have issued an "Ark Royal" set there's no real xcuse is there? Hope to get some more work done on her over th enext few weeks - and you never know - I may even finish her off!!

I checked with the big "H" and they have sold 79 of the 80 they had. (I have just ordered the last one! Which AFAIK is in the bog-standard overall white scheme -)

You not a Beano man then?

So, we now know what the "HB" stands for ..as in "jenshb..........." ???

Hi Ed, I'm in the process of bulding Gnat No 2 - she's ready for the paint. Articles on both sould appear in you favourite book/magazine soon!

I have actually started to build one.....OOB- A shake and Bake? It ain't! Decals options are as follows.....FMk24 "VN489/W2*A" 80 Sqn RAF - Kai Tak Hong Kong 1951, FMk.22 "PK596/RAT*L" 613 Sqn RAuxAF Ringway 1949 and FMk22 "PK555/K" 73 Sqn RAF Ta Kali Malta 1948. All three a/c in Dark Green/Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey. You do get a lot of plastic for your £14.99! The kit has a lower fuselage/wing spar which is equired to allow the separate wing fillets to sit upon. The griffon engine is quite detailled - not sure how accurate though! I'm planning on building this Spit as an 80 Sqn machine, but just as she would have appeared before being handed over to the RHKAF - i..e. In overall Aluminium paint. I'm also planning on converting a second model into a Mk21, using parts from Hasegawa's VB, and one of MDC's detail sets..wish me luck!!

I have them in stock - and the kit looks fine - one or two 1st impressions..... -ive's....... (i) No depth to cannon troughs!! (ii) Nose wheel gear is attached to "ceiling" and as such MAY be a tadge on the long size. (iii) Seat is adequate - but nothing to write home about (iv) cockpit is a bit lightweight, but nothing a few additions can't address +ive..... (i) its a 1/48th FAA Post War kit!! (ii) its a 1/48th FAA Post War kit!!! (iii) its a .............................. (Decals look nice, Drop Tanks and RP's included, wing fold option, split flaps ...and its a 1/48th FAA post War kit!!!)

The sheer ingenuity of it all - A PENCIL!!! Must make a note to add one to my tool-box..... must make a note, ermm...must make a note............

That was for the SHAR Jake, not the GR3. As far as I am aware there's been nothing in 1/24th for the Harrier. .

Nice review Nigel, The Revell rep has stated that another 36 paints will be released in the Autumn, bringing the Aqua range up to "full speed" (i.e. matching in total the Enamel range). I've used a few of their colours, including Matt Black - which sprays on a dream! I'd add that its the best Matt black I've used!! Their silver and aluminium are really nice too. I brush painted a Meteor F8 (that I'd more or less stripped to bare plastic - after I'd managed to bugger up - using an old can of Halford's Aluminium!) with their silver and it brushed on fantastically! I've also sprayed on their Bright Red-a better match to RAF Signal Red than the orangy shade given by Xtracylic! I've sprayed it on at fairly high pressure (20psi) using a very high paint:thinners (Tamiya) ratio.......80:20 ish and its been fine. I'd rate them very highly- the shades are a bit restrictive, but when the full range is issued, I plan on "dumping" the Revell enamel range from the shop. They should suppliment the Tamiya and Xtracylic ranges nicely. Also worth noting in the new Airfix catalogue is that Humbrol are planning(?!) sometime this year(!) a full re-launch of their acrylic range - mirroring their enamel range...

I've spoken to John Adams some time ago and asked him why he didn't re-pop the Vulcan. Apparently he only produced 200 (I think) and the first 180 sold reasonably well , the last 20 hang around for a year or so before they sold..........(The figures may not be 100% accurate -but you get the drift!). The tools had indeed worn out (bear in mind that the kit had white metal, resin, vacuum formed and ordinary plastic!) so new tools would be required, and to make that worthwhile, he's have to produce another 200+ Vulcans........Considering that the original kit was £99 ( 10 years ago?) then it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the RRP would have doubled in that time, and John was bit sceptical whether people would buy the 200+ at that sort of price..... John's a business man as much as a modeller and I'd imagine that if he thought a production run of 200+ 1/48th Vulcans would sell, then he's maybe take the chance... Sanger still have their 1/48th scale Vulcan listed as being a new release this year!!!! AND you never know what Trumpeter may be up to!!!! (If only!!)

Rather!!! AND the Canberra Airbrakes!!!!! Please!!!

Did I mention that someone gave me an Aeroclub Vulcan four or five years ago...for nowt!! (Must get around to finishing her off one day!) AND I think our Darius may have a completed one somewhere.......

The NF3 (or NF2 for that matter) wouldn't have been flown by XISqn as they weren't a Night Fighter Sqn. As clarified on Vic's Website the Venom Mk3 was a Night Fighter (NF) - NOT an FB (Fighter-Bomber), there was no such thing as a Venom FB.3! The RAF flew the FB1 and FB4 (single seaters) and NF2 and NF3 (Twin seaters)