71chally

I did notice that myself regarding the wing fold on your lovely S.1 & 2, but have agonised over a really polite way of putting it across in a message here. Sadly I don't know what the dimensions are to achieve the correct fold angle, but the wing tips come a lot closer together to reduce the overall height for hangar deck clearance. I have seen the fold was 120 degrees, but don't know how reliable that is. The folded height is quoted at 16'8". You might have to use photo references and gauging the wingtip distances against say the tailplane.

Has anyone got pictures of the actual Airfix kits revealed at Telford at all? Surprised that there hasn't been more about it here.

Do you know what, that looks great really nice tidy finish with that Herc! Hope recovery is going well.

I appreciate that they were pre CAD, but some older kits seem directly related and possibly scaled off each other, the Tamiya F-84 springs to mind and the Airfix Canberras, though I get that they were all same era to their other scales.

Alex, now I really have got Carry On of the mind! I've only just erected mine, hasn't gone floppy yet! Without seeing it, washers might make good shims?

I've never seen the Airfix 1:48 Gnat, is that a straight upscale? I know their 72 Lightning is significantly different than the 48 version.

I was struggling with an Ikea lamp myself, however I was kidding myself that my eyes are twenty years younger than they are and that magnification is required (the Carrry On in me is fighting against the obvious here!) so this fits the bill superbly. Will get a shot of it in anger, but here is a link to said beastie, http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/22w-fluorescent-daylight-magnifier-lamp-a29ff Really is nicely put together, with a large magnifyer/lamp head

Superb micro work going on there Tony. This must be the ultimate thread drift, I've been considering a modelling lamp with magnifying glass for a while and have been looking around at either rubbish or over priced products. Your mention of Maplins earlier jolted a thought process in my head which meant looking for one of these lamps in their catalogue, and I'll be jiggered they have the perfect one on offer for £25 in P+P. Ordered it Sunday night, got it Weds morning, and a really nicely made and well sized article it is too - so thanks for that!

Correct, I would be happy to leave as it is in this scale (as I've done on my Fujimis), but should be dead easy to rescribe if fussy. The excellent illustrations in Jonathans' link are a perfect guide. Out of interest where is station 077, is that the bulkhead aft of the cockpit section? The R in FGR.2 reflected the reconnaissance role that the RAF specifically required for their Phantoms. There was a McDD proposal to sell a dedicated RF variant to the RAF, but they went with the pod idea, which was also originally fielded by McDD.

That's a Snow-Trac, immortalized in one of my favourite films, The Shining! There is a resin kit of the Tucker, but haven't encountered a mainstream injection kit of it - sadly.

Some ref pictures if anyone wants them. Note the stb'd seat framework appears different to the manual. Westland Wessex HAS.3 XM328 653-PO by James Thomas, on Flickr Westland Wessex HAS.3 XM328 653-PO by James Thomas, on Flickr Westland Wessex HAS.3 XM328 653-PO by James Thomas, on Flickr Westland Wessex HAS.3 XM328 653-PO by James Thomas, on Flickr

Many thanks for the answers. Just recently seen a couple of shots showing what appears to be very light undersides with little tonal variation, but guess trick of light on the aluminum finish.

lovely bit of film, brave aircrew and hardy engineers! I think that probably all four -7LPs had the larger tanks as it was a requirement to have the higher fuel capacity. Those snowcats are Tucker 743 Sno-Cats, beautiful things and believe that examples are either still in use or only recently retired. For a moment I thought you might be maintaining your carrier based aircraft theme Actually your boxing is a relatively recent one, so forget my rose tinted twaddle earlier!

As standard they didn't no. However a specific question asked is about the Neptunes converted for Antarctic work and many of those were P2V-7s (P2V-7LP, LP-2J after designation unification) fitted with the P2V-5 larger wing tip tanks, these can be seen in Juns' link in post 2, and on his lovely model. The basics with the tanks were P2V-3 none P2V-4 slim small capacity tanks hung under the wing tip P2V-5 / P-2E large 350 gal capacity tanks on wing tip centreline P2V-6 / P-2F large 350 gal capacity tanks on wing tip centreline P2V-7 / P-2H slim line tanks, similar in size to -4 on wing tip centreline All had searchlights fitted as standard in the stb'd tank, but some sub variants had them removed

My understanding of the Marineflieger F-104G scheme is middish grey upper with silver/alluminium undersides. Did any of them ever wear the very pale grey/white underside that was seen on the early Marineflieger Tornados? Thanks in advance

It's a great kit isn't it, even more remarkable when you consider that it's 45 years old, and issued by Frog. The instructions sheets are really informative about the type in general, a feature that seems to have gone by the by. Another useful article is the one that appeared in SAM late 1983. They also did another article on scratch converting the P2V-7 to a P2V-5 which showed detail of the large pod searchlight, looks like you could be going for a combination of the two! I've built two in the past, my interest fired up by just catching the very last visiting Aeronavale Neptunes at St Mawgan. I have two in the loft and the Falcon conversion to an RAF P2V-5...one day!

Think I've seen references to the differences in the fins being down to a leading edge aerial fit. There is also a panel on the port side aft fuselage which is different between the FG.1 & FGR.2.

Is there a list or link to any of the Bobcat stockists?

Sounds good, I'm only interested in producing a Fujimi Phantom rather than going into a more general build at the moment. The swansong to a fine old kit, maybe.

To someone used to 'standard' plastic scale modelling, this is absolutely incredible work, both in the design and build of the kit. The research and detail is just superb. How hard is it to handle and join the plastic parts?

Airframe and engine development were rarely done in isolation from each other. During the mid to late '30s Fairey had pinned it's hopes on it's own radical but ultimately dead end P.12 Prince & P.24 Monarch engines for its larger aircraft. The Barracuda's next intended engine was the Exe which was dropped as it didn't offer significant advantage over the developing Merlin which in turn was earmarked for more 'important' types. It goes someway to explain how some of Faireys aircraft designs were left in abeyance, their penchant for unusual power plants didn't help of course. The Spearfish and the Gannet also suffered from powerplant development delays.

Can't wait for this, and the bomber/reccon variant

The Fujimi UK Phantoms are my favourite kits, they just fall together, the molding detail is exquisite and the plastic quailty just so, remarkable when you consider that they were first released almost 30 years ago. Be interesting to see how the new Airfix release stacks up against it in those aspects, though it is clearly already better from the point of options detail, with the poseable flight surfaces, refuelling probe, folding wings etc. The news that the wholly produced British kits are already showing better quality is great news. Up for a group build submission if there is one going!

I realise that, unfortunately I don't have APs prior to the early 70s. I think Steve is right on this. Some of the markings I was thinking of were fire axes, extinguishers & gloves which were marked in red or yellow at various times. The AP states yellow on RN and red on RAF/Army a/c but it did change on the latter. Sorry to digress. Like Jonners I can't find pictures of the Hunter with red stencils in that area.

My (very) basic understanding of the Griffon was that it was held back during the early war years as Merlin development was actually quickly close pacing it power wise, until late wartime by which time it was favoured for the Spitfire/Seafire and Firefly.