vildebeest

Many thanks for the detailed answer, Jack. Now you mention it, it is obvious that removing the whole rocker cover and putting completely new ones on is the way to go. I also like the idea of a hole in the rocker cover to accept the push rod. I wonder whether that can be done by drilling the hole in plastic first then cutting out? I see you also put in an extension at the front of the engine where the push rods go into the crank case which makes sense. Drilling a hole, then two holes within the hole, 14 times shows real dedication! Paul

Jack, that's lovely work there. The push rods and rocker covers to me give the Jaguar its character. I am pondering at the moment what to do for one for a Flycatcher. Your photo does show how rough the original resin was, and although it is not expensive in itself , the cost of postage to the UK makes it unattractive if it is going to need a lot of work. What did you do with the rocker covers? I assume on the resin they do not extend forward of the cylinders but that you have managed to build them forward. Paul

No, no numbers or markings, just national insignia on tail, on top and below wings. Paul

There is a profile in SAM Combat Colours, Pearl Harbour and Beyond, possibly based on these photos, described as dark olive drab 31 and neutral gray. Paul

Unsurprisingly, I do have it. I have not built it yet, so am not going to comment on accuracy or fit, but in the box it looks reasonably detailed, It is, I believe a re-pop of the earlier kit they did a few years ago which I missed out on, so there will be a few builds around. On the specific markings for the kit, as you say, the box shows it in action with Japanese fighters, presumably intended to be the Endau raid. The decal options are for two camouflaged versions, one 36 Sqn, one 100 Sqn, "late 1941, early 1942" and two silver versions. However, the only offensive armament is torpedo, there are no bomb racks or bombs. Moreover, on the colour scheme, the torpedoes are shown with bright red fronts which , someone will correct me if I am wrong, I thought were for training versions and not really appropriate for war. In any event, I believe there was only one operation, at the very start of the war, where torpedoes were used, by 36 Sqn. There are lots of questions about Endau Vildebeests, but one thing that is certain is that they carried bombs, not torpedoes. So to build a wartime Vildebeest involves some work, I am probably going to use the bomb racks from the Airfix Swordfish - I assume they would be the same although I haven't checked yet. The camouflaged versions are given as dark earth and dark green. There was a long thread on here by people more learned than I, which came to the conclusion that it was all rather unclear, but dark earth and dark green was certainly a possibility, indeed a probability to some. Paul

Hi. my Aviation News plans are not at home, which means they will be at my Mum's house, and it will be a couple of weeks before I am there again. Paul

I am fairly certain I have the plans from Aviation News, but suspect they are at my mother's house, so it may be some time before I can get them. Paul

There have been other threads on this here if you search. One detail difference pointed out by I think John Aero is a slightly increased chord, though you might not want to bother with that. There was a conversion article in SAM May 1981 which I once had, but now have lost, so if anyone has that, a copy would be good. Paul

I have a Merlin Westland Wapiti. I cannot really think of anything that would induce me to try to build it. Before you even start to think about fit, you have the problem that the fuselage is flaking away and sanding just produces more flakes. After some consideration, I did work out a way of building it which involved substituting the fuselage, wings and various other parts with modified parts from an old Frog Wallace, but that rather seemed to miss the pint. Paul.

Some good stuff for nostalgia market though. I think back fondly on the lunar module, astronauts and Saturn V. And how many conversions of the Demon were tried? Paul

I have tried three methods, cutting off the blades and reversing, turning the whole piece around and trying to re-shape the cone, and Black Knight's approach. Only Black Knight's method resulted in anything that works. Hard to get the rear of the blade right, but as BK's photos show, the front works fine. Then there is the true modeller's approach - try all three methods and then discover whilst looking for something entirely different that I bought the Aeroclub replacements about 15 years ago... Paul

I see that there is now a credit on Hannant's website as to the builder of the model. Paul

Dennis As far as I know, nothing currently produced in 1/72. Aeroclub did one which comes up from time to time on Ebay, before that there was a Pegasus version and also one by Veeday packaged with the Flycatcher. Aeroclub is the easiest if you can find it, I can let you have the Veeday and possibly some parts from the Pegasus which I had at some stage if you are wanting a challenge. Paul

I have a completed kit from, it must be the 1980's, and an unbuilt one from 5 or 6 years ago - whenever they did the VC awards box set - and the props look much the same. Paul

Aeroclub Merlin II on ebay at the moment. Paul