treker_ed

Able to check some off line references - Haynes manual on B29 and variants (1942-1960 - all marks) "B-29A Similar to the B-29 in all respects except in wing construction and manner of attachment to the fuselage. The inboard wing of the B-29 is continuous through the fuselage, whereas the inboard wing of the B-29A is joined at the centre section, which is a complete and separate assembly and the wings are bolted to this at station 47.75. The different construction means that only three fuel cells can be fitted in the wing centre section, being able to hold 1,120 gallons. This reduction in fuel capacity by some 200 gallons, was not popular and prompted General LeMay to tell Colonel Irving (XXI BC Deputy Chief Of Staff for Supply & Maintenance) to "write Washington and tell them that we don't like the Renton airplane". Despite these reservations the B-29As continued to arrive and made up a sizable proportion of all B-29 types in the pacific theatre. Many publications state that because of the differing method of connecting the wing to the fuselage, the b-29A had a wingspan 1ft greater than the B-29. This is a fallacy, with all USAAF official documentation quoting only a single wingspan for BOTH the B-29 & B-29A. All B-29As were produced by Boeing at the Renton plant. Early planes were equipped with the transfer fuel system, whilst subsequent ones had the manifold system. These later aircraft also had formation sticks added to the C-1 autopilot to facilitate formation flying. The very latest planes (Blocks 70 & 75) had the forward upper four-gun turret redesigned as a streamlined teardrop shape similar to those fitted to b-50's" (Naturally, if we assume (e.g. after Joe Baugher) that the span has not changed - this was one of the on line refs that I looked at earlier and stated that the differences were all internal)

According to various online sources (which I need to double check as it was only a quick look) they all say the same thing. The differences were internal to the wing structure and there were no to very little external visual differences to the aircraft.

I'm ex RAF and used to live on Coningsby. It's quite a thrill to hear those 4 Merlin engines revving up, which I got to hear on a regular basis as I would often have to pop over to the BBMF hanger as part of my duties,! Even today many years after leaving, everytime I hear it flying overhead it's such a special sight and sound.

Went back on the way home and bought it... Absolute steal at that price. However, it's been bought for me by the in-laws as an early birthday present so cannot lay my sticky mitts on it until September 😔

Just looked at the instructions via Scalemates. The exhausts are integrated into the main body. Looking at the painting plan they are highlighted in that as painted silver/gunmetal.

Whilst in the area (had been to Castle Drogo for the day), my wife and I decided to pop into Trago MIlls at Newton Abbot in Devon to have a mooch around. For my sins it was of course to have a look at any model kits that they may have in stock (they had some decent Revell in the past). Thankfully, they still do, and some decent pricing. Found (but didn't buy due to funds) a 1/48 SR-71 at £69.99 - Hannants currently have this listed at £99.99 And they also have plenty of the Revell/Bandai Star Wars 1/72 kits - A-wing, B-Wing, Y-Wing etc. Sadly due to lack of funds, I was unable to partake of any of these delights at the moment. However, all was not lost. Perusing the books, I found several items that curried favour: Flight Craft publishing - Spitfire Mk V and its Variants - RRP £16.99 - on sale @ £3.99 Flight Craft publishing - A6M Zero (Mitsubishi) - RRP £16.99 - on sale @ £4.99 Dalrymple & Verdun - Attacker - The Royal Navy's First Operational Jet Fighter - RRP £14.95 - on sale @ £4.99 Dalrymple & Verdun - No Place For Beginners - Battle Over Malta June 1940 to Sept 1941 - RRP £24.95 - on sale @ £5.99 £73.88 worth of books for a grand total of £19.96 definitely worth the visit I think!

Looks great so far - but you know exactly what will happen..... The moment you post to RFI, a kit maker will announce a new 1/32 injection plastic FG-1/FGR-2 Phantom! Your sacrifices will not be in vain

Just checked the instructions (available to download on Scalemates.com - the buzz numbers (that's the FU-897 number) cross the corner of the airbrake doors. You should be able to see that the bottom part of the "F" is sitting on the closed air brake door. The lower part of the whole buzz number is decal 62 on the sheet you have shown, that then matches up with decal 71 to form the whole number. It's common practice where you have decals/stencilling crossing panels that can be opened like air brakes, under carriage bays, etc, to split decals into multiple parts to allow for the doors to be posed open, and still have the requisite markings applied.

I've seen at least 3 different variations on the camouflage scheme on MK IV & IVa Mustangs (equivalent to P-51D & K respectively with RAF equipment changes accordingly) Accordingly, I've had to buy 3 different masking sets to account for these variations.

Built this when it first came out - lovely little kit and went together very nicely indeed - even with my sausage like fingers!

Ordered a few bits and bobs from Hannants before Hols. There's a few camouflage masking sets from Top Notch Masks: TNM24-M053 - 1/24 Camouflage masking set for Airfix 1/24 MK IX TNM48-M086 - 1/48 Camouflage masking set for Eduard/Airfix Mustang MK IV/IVa TNM48-M087 - 1/48 Camouflage masking set for Eduard/Airfix Mustang MK IV/IVa TNM48-M088 - 1/48 Camouflage masking set for Eduard/Airfix Mustang MK IV/IVa TNM48-M096 - 1/48 Camouflage masking set for Eduard Tempest MK II (I have quite a few Mustang IV/IVa kits in the stash and not all will be NMF - I find it much easier to use masking sets!) (Forgot to add :Eduard 1/24 canopy masking for Airfix Spitfire IXc) Whilst in Plymouth popped into Antics (as is my usual whilst visiting that fair city...) and have picked up the Revell re-box of the ICM B-26 Invader. They have very nicely remembered to include most of the sprues and so will be able to render several versions from the basic boxing! Just need to buy the appropriate decal set now! The only ones that do not seem to have included are those from the B-26K or Drone carrier.

@bootneck Lack of memory happens to the best of us! I resort to calling the wife my "external storage unit" sometimes as I am terrible sometimes with certain things (organising appointments, arranging things with friends etc) so she has to do them, and keep the family diaries. So I am happy to say I have off site backup!

I game slightly more than I should do... I even bought a secondary laptop for gaming when I go away Being on the Autistic Spectrum , I can get easily bored and fidgety, so need to keep myself occupied. So I bought the gaming laptop to do just that. Upgraded as well to add extra storage, and it will run practically every game I own, and hopefully most of the stuff that will be coming out over the next couple of years. My main rig dual boots with Opensuse Linux & Windows 11. Self-built gaming rig, dual monitor set up. Been gaming since I was 14, now in my 50's, so there is not much I haven't seen in that time.

Linux is not a panacea to all users. If you are not an advanced user, as bootneck seem seems not to be, then installing and getting all your hardware to work seemlessly can be fraught with even more problems. I'm as far from being a novice as can be, an even I've had problems getting Linux to talk to all my hardware. Even now it will not use my NAS fully.

There is a specific sub forum for decals under the TOOLS & TIPS section https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/68-tools-amp-tips/

My understanding is it's supposed to be Light Aircraft Grey, as noted above. Why Airfix have gone for 196, when they have LAG in their range (166) I haven't got a clue! But that was always the colour quoted for undercarriage on most RAF/RN aircraft from the 60s onwards. When I built my two 1/72 new tool buccs, LAG is what I went for (or an equivalent in another paint range).

I don't see how a TV show would help to improve a company's share price! I can see the average person watching Yesterday Channel/Hornby: A model world and becoming interested in Scalextric/Hornby/Airfix, but share prices would be relevant to investors, who would not necessarily be interested in a TV show! Yes, it raised the company profile, yes it was a well-received show, but did it interest those investors who would be buying / trading Hornby shares I doubt it as they probably wouldn't have been watching it. The TV show may well have boosted interest to the members of the public who watched it, but quite probably those who watched it were already interested in what was being shown in the first place, and you may find that there was a very small percentage of non-Railway/Non-Modellers/Non-Scalextric users watching the show.

@825 just to let you know that your pictures are not appearing! Village Photos do not have a secure HTTPS connection anymore, and as such any photo's hosted on their site will not appear on BM which does have the correct certification in place for HTTPS connections. You may want to think about changing your hosting service to one that provides HTTPS.

Rather than ranting here about Airfix, who don't seem to have a presence, why not go onto Facebook/twitter or even their own forum and post there. I go to plenty of LMS and they always seem to have plenty of Airfix kits on the shelves. It could be your local is using the situation as an excuse, and blaming Airfix instead. I have no idea, that's just my opinion.

Ouch...... Glad I bought mine when I did from The Works! I have the majority of the fixed wing aviation titles that they did. Quite handy sometimes for a bit of referencing in the middle of a kit build, not massively detailed but they do have nuggets of useful info. Thankfully didn't buy all of them at full price, most were bought from The works when they were selling them at £4 or £5, but did buy some from Haynes when they would have their sales.

Just getting the box out of the stash is enough for me!

The pipe is the warm air supply pipeline. If you have the Haynes book on The Stirling, all described in detail in that (really in depth detail how it worked and a schematic!)

HQME I believe would stand for Headquarters Middle East (Bit of Google-fu and that's what I found it to be in fact!)

Where am I? Who's that?😄

This one is a USB-C docking station, supposedly designed for the specific laptop she is using - yet does not replicate all the ports she has! For the display it uses HDMI but does not have this on the dock, so we still need to plug the monitor cable into the laptop separately. I've lost count of the times I've had to sort out IT issues for her that her IT support staff should be doing. I suppose having your own personal IT geek/nerd/support in the house helps Been building, updating, repairing my own PC#s since the mid 90's so have a lot of knowledge to use and pass on.