Tripod

I hadn't heard of them either, but if you Google "Southampton Air Services" with the inverted commas you get a few aircraft photos as you say, plus a biography of Johm Habin on 500race.org, which mentions his founding of the company in the post-war period. It's an interesting tale! Peter

More goodies: at 0:48 the Miles Falcon taxies past a red BA Swallow 2 (Pobjoy), and at 1:18 the Taylor Cub overflies a parked Leopard Moth and Aeronca (as well as the Monospar). The Ken Waller connection to the Caudron was interesting - a bit of Googling reveals that he had flown it over from Brussels three months before this (in hops, not a single flight). Peter

The aircraft at 1:42 looks rather like the De Havilland TK2. Interesting that it seems to be dark green with the registration in red. I'm also wondering if the aircraft at 1:27, after the cub, is a Moth Major. The wings don't look swept to me. Also, when the 1913 Caudron is flying past, what looks like a modern Caudron (Simoun?) takes off. The tail seems taller than the one I think is the TK2. Peter

It's the one show where I don't have to ask myself the question "Should I wear the club polo shirt or the club sweatshirt?" The answer is always "Both!"

The AVI kit certainly has a 9-cylinder radial, but I can't see any mention of what type of engine it represents. It doesn't look exactly like John's white metal Salmson. It doesn't have the push rods in front of the cylinders that are quite prominent on the Salmson, and I think the diameter looks a bit small. It would probably make a good starting point for someone sufficiently keen (and capable). My AVI kit's going to be G-AAUP, as I've already built G-ACMZ from the Aeroclub vacform. It might even be on a table at the Shuttleworth show! Peter

Wingspan from January 1992 had a plan by Alf Granger, which has a four-aspect view of the Cirrus-engined nose. Converting the AVI kit would mean replacing everything curved with straight lines. OK, a bit of an exaggeration, but fuselage top decking, wingtips and tail surfaces. It might be easier to make the wings (or the outer wings) from scratch. Having said that, the AVI kit has two fuselages, so the inline-engined one could form a basis for the Swallow 2 for anyone (like me) building the radial version, with a bit of plasticard work. Peter.

Malc I can answer that by copying and pasting the description I sent to Rob: The full-size G-BFMF ‘Kermit’ has been a regular participant in the recent October ‘Race Day’ airshows at the Shuttleworth Collection, which is why it immediately sprang to mind when I was thinking of a green light aircraft to scratch-build. I have previously built the Amodel Taylor Titch, and I think a handful of F1 air racers would make an attractive display in a small space. The wing was part of the handle of a disposable wooden fork that came with some food or other that I bought at a show somewhere. The wooden cutlery isn’t nice to eat with but it’s stiff, fairly close-grained wood, and big enough for a tiny wing. I cut out a piece slightly smaller than the wing (full span), sanded it to aerofoil shape and folded some 5 thou plasticard over it, glued down at the trailing edge. The ailerons are another strip of plasticard cut to size. The fuselage is simply a plasticard spine (including fin and rudder) built up with offcuts of sprue and filler. I cheated slightly on the engine cowling by taking a mould from the Amodel Taylor Titch and casting filler inside it, to form the basic shape, which I then built up with more filler and sanding. I incorporated the wing as I built up the fuselage. The undercarriage legs were part of the waste from a sheet of photo etch, the wheel spats are shaped Milliput, the propeller is from the spares box of an old friend who died a couple of years ago – he had a few bits of leftovers from an Airfix Piper Cherokee that he had turned into something else. The transfers were home-made, printed on white paper. My printer didn’t seem to want to reproduce the original Kermit green, so I ended up having to overpaint the green bits as best I could. The tailskid is a bit of a staple and the cockpit glazing and roof are bits of blister pack from pills. I also like racers, but mostly those that are British-registered light aircraft. I have made a few pre-war ones, but seeing a few of them at Shuttleworth Race Days got me looking at F1 racers. I had planned to make a Cosmic Wind for our Telford green theme, but I was far too slow building the Cassutt. I also have the Argus/Aeromodeller plans for a Rollason Beta and Midget Mustang, so they are also part of my future plans. I'm hoping one of them will fit the Earley Risers' SMW 2024 theme. Peter

The Cassutt is mine! The original plan for the display layout had it on the rear, highest, tier of the display. I was happy with this as it stopped anyone looking too closely at it. Unfortunately, the small label identifying it also hid it, as the model is under 20mm high, so the Cassutt had to move down a level. Rob - a reply to your e-mail should be coming your way soon! Peter

Aeroplane Monthly of February 1991 has an article on the Avro Monoplanes (from the Ten to the 652). It has a different rear port three-quarter view of G-ACRN, showing the top of the wing and fuselage. plus a port side view of 'RM , a head-on photo and one inside the cabin looking aft.

The moulds went to Life-Like, and then to Lindberg. Some of us like 1/32, as you can get more cars in less space!

If you Google G-AESJ you'll find a few photos, along with links to Britmodeller topics that mention it. As a C-17 it has some major differences from the later D-17. I shall have the same problem if I ever get around to making Amy Johnson's B-17 Staggerwing, though I might get away with more in 1/72 than one could with the Roden kit.

Scalemates lists it as dating from 1958, so yes, box scale.

Airmodel made a clear vacform conversion set for the early Mark 1 and the GR14. How good and how accurate it was, I haven't checked, and I've only ever seen one. Someone in California seems to have three on eBay right now, but the pictures don't give a very clear idea of the quality. As I recall, my set doesn't look bad, and to my eye the quality looked as good as I could make the rest of the Wellington to go with them. Peter

Alf Granger drew the Bluebird IV. They were published in Wingspan magazine, May 1992.

The original Simmonds Spartan had a symmetrical wing section; the later models didn't. I have hacked a ratty old ex-Frog DH60 into a Spartan Arrow. The fuselage is a bit wider than the Moth, so I just cut out the side view in plasticard and stuck bits of Moth onto it to build up the shape and give me two open cockpits, then added filler and did a bit of sanding. Great fun! The wings were scratch-built using the old thin-plasticard-over-shaped-balsa method. This has the advantage that if you make a mess of it you have wasted a 6 inch by half inch bit of thin balsa and a small bit of thin plasticard. It was a long time ago and I can't remember where the plans came from. Sorry.

According to Air-Britain's Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wing Aircraft Since 1946, 100 Avengers were supplied under MDAP in 1953 (or maybe from 1953 - I didn't check the delivery dates for all 100) and serialled in the XB range. Most were converted to AS4, AS5 and ECM6. Sword do a kit of the ECM6, and yes, also the AEW Skyraider.

Your Novo decals may not have perished - they used to shatter into a hundred pieces even when the kits were brand new. I used to put a coat of decal film on top before putting them anywhere near water. If you frequent model shows, you might find second hand kit dealers with big boxes of loose decals sheets - I saw Heller Javelin sheets at a show a couple of weeks ago.

July 1970 perhaps? That's what my list of references says. If only I knew where I'd put the magazine...

1/36: Marui (not as rare or expensive). According to Scalemates it was available as a floatplane as well as on wheels. The Arii/Eidai kit was also available in separate boxings with wheels and floats.

Hawkers may only have built two, but there have been replicas in recent years. I saw two of them this afternoon at Shuttleworth, so I'll be looking at aJapaneseconversion. But yes, being Sidney Camm's first aircraft is why it's important.

Scale Models of December 1980 had plans drawn by Guy Thomas; Wingspan magazine from April 1992 had plans by Alf Granger. Both were of the Falcon Six. There's an old set of plans from a book (I think called The Book of Miles Aircraft) that are on the website of the Museum of Berkshire Aviation. There is a modern large book on Miles aircraft (published by Air-Britain), in three large volumes. Volume 1 covers the pre-war types and has lots of information in it, including for many of them a brief mention of the original colour they were finished in. Peter

Do you mean the RugRat AS5 Courier? Mine has been sitting happily on its original landing gear for eight years, and it hasn't collapsed yet!

There was a conversion in an old Airfix Magazine. November 1980 if I wrote it down correctly.

Of course, the black might also have been another dark colour as the photos are all black and white, so that needs checking too!

I think G-AEKL had a black upper fuselage (need to check the upper wing surfaces too) before its tragic mishap before the 1936 Schlesinger race, and when rebuilt it was red with gold trim. If you Google the modern replica G-HEKL it is a close match to the original.