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

Having looked at the original of the photo at #40 under a magnifying glass, definitely a rounded D underwing in that photo. Fuselage serial too indistinct to be able to comment. Paul

David (Womby), thanks for that, that seems a very likely candidate - as I mentioned previously, 982 was one of "his" planes, which would explain why he had the photos and, I think, is in one of the photos. The photos show a very badly burnt port wing but the starboard wing largely intact, does that tie in with the photo in Flypast? If the photos I have are of 982, what that means for your original question is that my Dad was still serving in June '54 - I had previously assumed that he had left around the time of his birthday in early '54 - and so based on his statements, 617 still carried red flashes then, so ruling out any change in early '54. Paul

With the photo I posted were two photos of a largely burnt out Canberra. It will be a 617 B2, again around 1953. I have no further details other than a vague recollection, which may be totally wrong, that my Dad told me that a starter cartridge had exploded and set fire to the plane. Does anybody have any further details what this might be, serial no./date etc. Thanks Paul

No problem, always happy to spread the story about back and grey Canberras! I suspect the tip tanks were only removed for the flypast but at least if anybody ever questions it, you have photographic proof you were right. Paul

A bit more on one of them, WD955 was one of the longest serving Canberras. It was converted to a T17 and served until the early 1990's - we saw it an airshow in the late 80's - and is now, according to google, preserved in Norway. Paul

Thanks for posting Dave. The back of the photo states "WD706 WD980 WD982 WD955 617 Sqd RAF Binbrook, Battle of Britain Flypast, 1953, SQD Ldr A Roberts DFC AFC Leading in 706" It did occur to me that WD706 does not sound right for a silver Canberra, is WH706 more likely? The original shows slight traces of the flash on the black paint, but I confirm there is no indication of a crest on 980, so that's the one to go for if you do not have a 617 crest to hand! 955, 980 and 982 were all being serviced by my father when the photo was taken and he confirmed they all had red flashes at the time - he died some years ago but we did have a specific conversation about this issue as he had seen a profile showing the flashes as blue and was most aggrieved. Paul

Thanks for your offers, I have sent a scan of the photo to Rabbit Leader to post. Paul

I have found the photo I referred to. It is a bit small to make out much detail, especially on a scan, but it is still a nice picture. I am a bit busy to work out how to post photos at the moment, but I happy to send a scan to anybody who does know how to post, otherwise I will post it later. In terms of timing - and given that my Dad worked on three of these planes and was quite clear that those had red flashes - the writing on the back indicates it was taken on the Battle of Britain day flypast, 1953. Paul

David When I made a 1/72 model of WD982 for my Dad (I reckon about thirty years ago now...) I used the 617 badge from the original Airfix Vulcan (where one option was an anti-flash white 617 version) and size-wise that on the model compared well with the photo. Bit of a roundabout way of saying it, but I hope it gives you an idea of size. I do not think all aircraft carried it, again my recollection from the photo is that two out of the three carried it. I will definitely try to find the photo next time I am at the house, but I have no idea where it is and it will take some digging around. They were, IIRC, on both sides of the nose just aft of the lightning strike. In case it is of any help, the criticism my Dad had of the model was that the emergency markings (the axe sign etc) were yellow when on the black fuselage, not, as I had done, red which was correct for other schemes. Paul

On further thought, I think the third was WD980, not 988, which would be consistent. Paul