Smithy

Purely asking out of curiosity, how many bubble canopy IXs were made, does anyone know the actual number?

I found an error on the first page that I looked at. It has Al Deere's Spitfire "Kiwi" as N3183 when it should be N3180. Admittedly this is one which has been bounced around for over half a century but I would say, it's probably best to double check any information on there before taking it as gospel. A lot of work has obviously gone into creating the site though.

Hi Tiger, As Troy mentioned above I'm a dedicated brush modeller. Didn't like air brushes at all so back to brushes. Everybody has their own little techniques, paints they favour and what works for them, and a lot of that comes from practicing yourself and finding out what works for you. Saying that though I think there are two things which are universally important if you want to get good results brush painting: 1) thinning the paint; and 2) using the right brushes for the job. I posted about this here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235067235-best-makes-of-enamel-paint/page/4/&tab=comments#comment-3576160 Hopefully that helps get you started. Best, Tim

Thanks! For something this old I'm really enjoying making this. It doesn't have the finesse of the more modern engineered kits and I found with my one it needed a little tidying up in places (nothing taxing or difficult though just a little flash on some of the smaller pieces), but it's a fun kit and the shape is very nice. And cheap as chips to boot. Really enjoying your build Lord Riot and yours is looking a treat.

I'm working on the same kit at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Started it back in February and should do an update in my thread. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235068527-airfix-148-hurricane-i-old-mould/ I'll be watching your build.

A Russian friend of mine has ridden in the back seat of an IL-2. His words: "I want to tell you that it is very (VERY) noisy, and in horizontal flight the exhaust gases falls heavily into the partly open gunner cockpit. Yes, the main problem is not even noise - I constantly felt this smell of burning from the exhaust, I don't know how WW2 crews flew for a long time, but then there was a war and no one thought about it...in any case, they had no choice. Back cockpit is very cramped there and I’m very uncomfortable with my height of 180 cm, because there is also a radio station (the tail gunner was also a radio operator on this plane" He also said the sling seat was uncomfortable. Here's one of his photos of the sling.

Sorry I can't help you there but that's interesting that there's a G-1 seatbelt harness. There was also a G-1 harness which was used with the D-1 parachute. Hopefully someone will be along to help. The only thing I can think of doing is getting in touch with someone who has or operates a C-45F and seeing if they can help.

Are you perhaps referring to parachute rather than seat harnesses? The G-1 harness was a component of one of the detachable parachute rigs. I might be wrong but I'm wondering whether you're confusing parachute harness types as aircraft seat harnesses.

When Tuck flew to Paris on the 16th May leading Blue Section and back on the 17th, he was flying T (source his logbook). He didn't regularly fly a U coded 92 machine until July and possibly June if N9434 was coded U and which @NG899 discussed in a thread last year. The problem is that Tuck's logbook swaps back and forth using codes for a period and then serials. He flew N9434 from the 7th June until the 25th June when he went on leave. When he returned to operations on the 3rd July he flies U almost constantly. I agree with NG899's idea that N9434 and U were very probably the same machine.

Troy will be along shortly

You want to read one of Arthur Gould Lee's books or "Sopwith Scout 7309" by Gordon Taylor. They're perfect for building a little atmosphere with a Pup build.

Yes and by a very substantial margin! I knew he was something of a dab hand with the clarinet although I've only spoken to him about 56 and 60 Sqns. If you don't have it already his recent biography of McCudden is absolutely fantastic too.

"Winged Victory" was so highly regarded for its accuracy and realism that copies of the book were being sold amongst RAF members at the start of WWII for £5, a hefty amount for a book in those days. And I agree entirely it's a tremendous read and probably the best at detailing the mental and emotional affects of combat flying in the last year of WWI. I also agree with your plug for "High in the Empty Blue" on the previous page. I'd go so far as to say that it's one of the best squadron histories written from any conflict. It is the result of 3 decades of research, quite incredible. Alex also happens to be a lovely fellow and very willing to help others.

I always mask before attaching the canopy regardless of whether open or closed. I use Parafilm so have to cut to make the mask and trust me it is far, far, far easier to do this on a separate canopy stuck to the working surface with a little Blutack because you have to move the piece around to cut it. With premade masks I still do this, much easier control working on the canopy by itself.

Before that. It was the main British sight in use during WWI and started being used in 1915.

If you're talking about the gun patches then properly when the war really got underway and specifically as a response to the first winter of the war which was quite harsh and lead to lubricants and grease in the guns freezing. A Battle of Britain aircraft in frontline combat service will most likely have them as by this stage it was a specified step in the rearming and servicing procedures. Saying that is there the possibility that an aircraft that has landed to be refuelled and rearmed in short order to take off again because more raid plots are appearing on the sector plotting table, might not have them applied in this rushed scenario? Highly likely I would say.

I built the new mould 1/72 Airfix I as a II using 3-D Kits conversion set which I was really thrilled with. Not sure if it's still available but if it is or you see one for sale well worth picking up. And yes it should have the IFF wires fitted but when I took this I'd lost my roll of invisible thread!

I just got my Hasegawa P-51 out to have a look at and it looks perfectly buildable and acceptable to me, although as I mentioned above I'm not a Mustang expert. Thanks to everyone who gave some feedback about the Hasegawa kit as it's appreciated. Might have to bump it up a few places on my "to build" list 😉

Thanks for the info Mike. As I said I'm no Mustang expert so I probably won't sweat the small stuff. I'm not the greatest modeller to begin with so overthinking the small detail things when my build quality and finishing is never going to match such fastidious attention to detail always feels like pearls for swine! So long as I can make it look vaguely like a TAF Mustang I'll be happy

After thinking Humbrol 30 is useless for most WWII subjects, I was very interested to find out that it's an exceptionally close match to the cockpit green used on some razorback P-47s. I was able to discover this from some excellent images of the 371st FG where the colour reproduction is excellent and very true to life. The reason I know the coloration is close to real is due to the fact that I collect flying kit and clothing and the pilot in the following photo is wearing a B-10 jacket of which I have two, and have handled more through my work. Because I could gauge the closeness of the colour of the B-10 in the photo to not just one but several B-10s (both actual NOS and issued) meant that I was able to see that Humbrol 30 is an exceedingly close, almost perfect match to the green used as an interior cockpit colour. To cut a long story short, if you're modelling a razorback Jug, Humbrol 30 is an entirely plausible colour to use for the cockpit interior.

Out of interest what's the 1/48 Hasegawa one like? I've had it in the stash for quite a few years now and plan to make it as a Kiwi TAF version. Doesn't look too shabby in the box but I'm no Mustang expert either.

Thanks, I completely missed that!

Personally I don't think it is the Day Fighter Scheme. If it was it usually should show more contrast between the DG and OG. To me it looks more like DG and DE over Sky with Sky Blue Spinner and fuselage band.

By 1st June 1941, 3 Sqn of 11 Group had several IIcs and in 12 Group 257 had some as well. Here's a 3 Sqn one if I'm not mistaken...

Chris, the photo of the 611 Spit IX reminded me of a photo I have of a 332 Sqn Spit which is similar, early IXc, offset tail wheel, dropped elevators and an erk sniffing around. Bonus is the coding and serial are known. If you are interested let me know as I'll scan it for you. It fulfils the criteria of the 611 job above but has a known code and serial so no guess work.