bull-nut

Could be Dark Slate? I'd be interested to see what Mike Starmer makes of that image.

If you are still planning on making your own "grass" surface, get yourself a sugar shaker from a baking or department store, they look like a metal can with a mesh insert in the lid. It will make the layering of your grass material a lot neater and more even. Also I'd avoid natural wood as it will warp over time, especially if you plan to add water based glues and/or paints. something inert will serve you much better in the long run, my favoured material is extruded polystyrene foam as used for insulating houses. If your joinery skills are up to it, you can always wrap some wooden moulding around it to give the finish you are after. Failing that, try something like thick (15mm or greater) MDF, though watch out for the dust when you cut it.

Lovely story Flanker. The one bit of good(ish) news around losing Filton as an airfield is that the Bristol Aero Collection is getting a new home in the old Brabazon hanger. Even Concord Alpha Foxtrot is getting a new home under cover, finally, after over a decade in the open air.

That clears things up a little I think, thanks. Back to the ORB's then. Interestingly, 501 is still on strength as a reserve unit, now in a logistics role at RAF Brize Norton. Edit: Its the squadron I'm interested in, rather than the specific period. I live not far from their spiritual home at Filton. The airfield/runway will soon be torn up to make way for residential and commercial development, indeed half of it is already housing, almost erasing Bristol's aviation links (we still have RR and Airbus, but there haven't been any aircraft flying out of Filton for some time). A crying shame to lose the home of such aircraft as Bulldog, Blenheim, Beaufighter and Concorde.

Thanks Graham, for the quick reply. L1659 it is then. Regarding the SR status of 501, I am now a little confused as that's the first time I've heard of them being classified as such. Primary sources, namely the squadron ORB Appendices, National Archives ref AIR/27/1954, label it as an AuxAF unit.

During a research session for an upcoming project, I came across this image of L1659, a 501 sdn Hurricane, that peaked my interest: My query is this. The aircraft clearly has the 2 bladed Watts propeller, the extended rear fuselage keel, and what appears to be an unarmoured windscreen, but the underside of the Stbd wing visible looks to be either metal skinned and gloss white, or else silver doped fabric. the photo was apparently taken at tangmere in 1940. I have obtained the 501 records from the NA to try and clear this up, but it doesn't help. All the appendices tell me is that the sqn received its first Hurricane, L1866, on 8/3/39 at Filton, near Bristol. Can anyone clear up whether L1659 or L1866 was a rag wing, and if so, are there any pictures of L1866 surviving, or does anyone know what letter code L1866 carried when at 501? Again, the sdn records have not been forthcoming.

+1 for the Revell air/groundcrew set, though it does have a very high proportion of seated pilots, and a lot of repeat sculpts. If you are only using a few at a time it shoud be fine.

Orion: Upper surfaces Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey with White underside was, as I understand, standard mid-late war scheme for RAF alrcraft used in the maritime patrol or ASR roles. The Lib doesn't seem to have seen much use by the RAF as a strategic bomber in Europe because its bomb load was lighter/less versatile than all of the British designed heavies. However it's greater range made it perfect for use in the far east, where targets were much further from RAF airfields. Hence the 2-tone blue roundels of SEAC, the red was removed to prevent confusion with the Japanese Hinumaru marking as far as I am aware. This aircraft was a GR (General Reconnaissance) variant, it differed from the B (Bomber) versions in having a different equipment fit. B VI's were also used in SEAC by several squadrons and they were painted in the more familiar? Olive Drab uppers and Medium Grey undersides. See This thread for discussion around the aircraft and paint scheme, including some pics.

Thanks. Todays progress isn't worthy of pics, plus I don't really have time to post them. I managed to put some Citadel Chainmail on the oil-cooler? on the stbd side of the nose. Primed all of the small ancillary parts (steps, pitots, etc) and put a coat of Clear down over everything except the underside of the upper planes. Is it just me, or are Tamiya's RLM Grey and Dark Sea Grey very close in saturation? I can see very little difference on the lower planes under most lighting conditions.

So with my Lib GR VI build out of the way I was able to finally return to this build. Has it really been 6 weeks? When we left our String Bag, she was looking a bit sorry for herself, all trussed up in Tamiya tape and with the upper surfaces primed. See above. First of all I sprayed the lower main-planes with Tamiya XF22 RLM Grey and the upper fuselage and upper main-plane surfaces with Tamiya XF65 Field Grey: On went the Bluetac worms: Followed by Tamiya tape and cheap kitchen foil: Lower main-planes got a coat of Tamiya XF54 Dark Sea Grey, while the upper main and fuselage got XF77 IJN grey(Sasebo). Then, with the masks removed, we have this: and this I think I prefer the XF77 for EDSG rather than the XF24 I used for the Liberator. It seems to have more purple in it which is how I always imagined EDSG. Didn't they used to call Temperate Sea scheme the "Purple and green" scheme or did I imagine it? Details next, starting in the morning, then gloss coat and decals.

Looking good there. May I suggest that you re-consider your Tamiya choice for the Dark Slate Grey. I have found Tamiya Field Grey XF65 a better match, while RLM Grey XF22 seems closer to ordinary Slate Grey. I used field grey on my 203 sqd Liberator that may be found Here. Both colours can be seen in my Swordfish thread Here. Edited to correct spelling.

Thanks for all the support everyone. Orion: Curiosity peaked, in what way do you find the colour scheme interesting?

UKguy, Learstang: Thanks very much. I'm quite fond of the scheme myself now! PLC1966: I explained the reason for the choice of aircraft in the first post of the WiP thread, but I'm happy to repeat it here. It is mostly about Ft/Sgt W.A.Collins RAF, my great uncle on my Dads side, who went down with her.

F-32, Houston: Thanks. Dogsbody: I think it's reflection from the interior colour, parts are clear IRL.

Tony: Thanks for the pointer on the antennae, I'll see if I can turn them around without too much damage to the paintwork.

Well, I'm calling her done. I could do more but if I did she would never be finished. Anyway, here's the overall pic, more pics in the RFI thread Here.

In memory of the crew of Liberator KG986-F, 203 Sqn RAF. Lost in action 20/3/1945, Oelehleh, Sumatra. Pilot: J/22813 F/Lt. S.W. Morris, R.C.A.F Co-pilot: 153776 F/O. L.M J. Grant. R.A.F Navigator: Aus.421460 W/O. A.P. Smith, R.A.A.F, Gunners: 1829311 Sgt. A.F Herd R.A.F 1835983 Sgt. D.C. Oakden, R.A.F Wireless operators/Gunners: 1312970 F/S. W.A. Collins R.A.F 1387779 F/S. E.F. Leftwick, R.A.F 1318346 F/S. J.D. Silkstone R.A.F 1120910 Sgt. A.M. Lang, R.A.F. Flight Engineer: 1894482 F/S. E. Peters. R.A.F. “The days shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn, At the setting of the sun, And in the morning, We will remember them.” Here she is folks, KG986-F, or at least as I think she would have looked before that fateful day 71 years ago. I had to take a few liberties, since there are no images that I can find of the actual aircraft. Minicraft/Academy B24-J, aftermarket decals, except roundels and stencils which are by Airfix. Weathering has been kept reasonably minimal since she went into the sea on her first sortie, with the loss of her entire crew. Work in progress thread starts Here. Comments and suggestions for how I can improve future builds are more than welcome.

LaurieS: have a look at Empress Miniatures Here. They have a Scimitar in 1/50, close enough in size?. The models are resins aimed at wargamers, so are likely to be simpler in detail than a scale kit, but I think it would be a good starting point.

Well that was a productive day. I managed to get the turrets and superchargers ready to go in: Manufacturers stencils on the props and the hubs painted: Painted and mounted the wheels onto the gear legs and gave the treads a wash of earth and rust pigments: Carved a piece of sprue to replace a glaring omission from the kit; the radio mast: And even managed to get some decals on the airframe, still got most of the stencilling to go though: I think I am maybe a day ahead of where I wanted to be, not enough for a base, but I have some breathing room at least! Edit: What colour panel line accents would you all suggest? I don't want anything too stark, so black is out. I thought about a radish earth colour on the lower surfaces, but I'm stuck for the uppers.

Well that went better than I thought. Cotton buds moistened (and I do mean moistened, not wet) with Cellulose thinners and a Very gentle touch has removed almost all traces of overspray from the fuselage sides thankfully. So learning from my mistakes (a rather novel experience!), I wrapped the whole thing in kitchen foil ready to spray the de-icing boots with Tamiya Rubber Black (XF85?), then SWMBO saw it and said it looked ready for the oven! I am sure my response was NOT family friendly. Next up, I got some paint on the gear legs, Citadel Mithril Silver with a wash of Nuln Oil, need to touch in the silver and brighten them back up again, but that's a relatively quick job I can do after work. and got some Nato Black on the props, here they are with the tip masks removed, hubs next. Finally for today, the masks came off from spraying the de-icers. YAY! I have heard that SEAC GR Libs usually had the De-icers removed, but I think it looks better with them, and she went down on her first sortie, so I think it's possible that she still had them fitted.

More progress; first, pics of the prop tips sprayed yellow: And the props assembled and masked: Next I made inserts for the Aries main-wheels to give the axles more purchase and spread the load, they are just made from concentric tubes of Plastruct styrene tubing: And built up and primed the main-wheels, though Photobucket is having a bad day at the moment and won't accept the upload. Next I was able to get some primer on the fuselage, Halfords for plastic straight from the rattlecan. It's had 3 coats I think, and seems to have gone down nicely. I may have ended my issue with white primers: Masked the undersides, sprayed the Dark Slate Grey using Tamiya XF65 Field Grey, left overnight to dry properly, then it was on with the bluetac worms: Tamiya tape followed to fill in then XF24 Dark Grey for the EDSG: This was taken right after spraying, so the paint is still wet in places A few jobs to do this morning, then off with the masks and I can clean up the overspray where I failed to mask the white properly.

Work continues, I have separated the nose wheel mudguard from the tyre, ready for the Aries replacement: Removed the moulded wheel hubs from the main gear legs, also ready for the resin replacements: And masked the outer fuselage openings with packing foam ready for primer: I have filled the opening in the belly around the radome, but it still needs sanding and the edge of the panel scribing, the old gap looked like about a four inch void all around the radome. Also raided the spares box for some GR antennae, these came from the Revell Halifax, two for the fuselage sides and a long antenna for the belly: Got the props primed and the tips sprayed yellow, masking and black on next. More updates tomorrow I hope.

Pics were promised, and pics there are: The fuselage needed a touch of filler along the seems, and I had to re-scribe a few panel lines after they got erased by the sanding. The canopy was a total pig to get down, I had to shave the edges down until it went in, and I've filled the gaps with Revell Contacta clear. Waiting for that to dry so that I can put some more XF4 down then get some overall primer on. It turns out that I had Tamiya Gloss white rather than the Matt version, at least it may save me some Clear coat! Need to make a start on the main gear next. I may just manage it by the 20th after all.

So I have mostly spent the rest of this week working, but did manage to get a few things done. I'll post pics tomorrow. Engines are painted, Quickboost replacements from Aires. I need to add the posh rods to the cylinder fronts soon. Maybe I'll raid the wife's wire box for some brass coated stuff. All of the fuselage glazing is in place and masked, and I am very glad I picked up the Eduard pre-cut mask set. Shame all Hannants had in stock at the time was the B24-D set, but I got the peephole windows and canopy done with it at least. The bombadier window I masked with thin strips of Tamiya tape and Humbrol Maskol, likewise the astrodome. I masked the bomb bay with the spare doors from the kit, held in place with Maskol. I need to do the turrets glazing, and then I can fill all the openings with packing foam and get some paint on.

Thanks for the praise everyone, having seen some spectacular builds on these forums, it means a lot. I had a thought at work last night, I have some 1mm disc rare earth magnets in the garage, maybe cut part of the roof away behind the cockpit and magnetise it to show off the backseaters area. What do you think? I'd have to be careful as I closed up the fuselage last night,( pics later) but I have some 1/4mm etched razor saws that I would like to try out and I could follow existing panel lines to disquise the seams. In the mean time, I'll try and get some paint on the engines today, that's something I can do even with children around.