wyverns4

Oh, Andy Pack, shudder, I had forgotten about them. How many vacs did thy release? The only one I had was the DH 10 and that was enough. I have built vacforms and sometimes enjoy the experience. Not this one. Crude blobby extrusions that ruined a perfectly good sheet of plasticard. Christian, exiled to africa

One to add. The Pavla Henschel 129 A. Limited-run, OK. In the box I had the wings and tailplanes were differing thicknesses, the fuselage halves differing lengths and the cannon troughs, either side of the cockpit at differing heights and lengths along the fuselage sides. IIRC the canopy was a vacform that came out of the box yellowed and refused to adhere with any known adhesive and the decals had already cracked up on the sheet. No, this was not brought some time after release, but picked off the Colingdale Hannant's, (original), as soon as Gary had moved out of the way after placing them on the shelf. It was eventually finished after much hacking, filing and filling, but succumbed to the 'sensitive' ministrations of the ex-from-hell MK.II. Christian, exiled to africa with an odd hankering for that &%$@# model...

Anything! I don't mind I'll buy it. (I'm easily pleased!). Christian, exiled to africa

Roden early Heinkel 111 B, or C I do not remember. Definitely a case of designed by committee, one designed the internal bits and the second the airframe. As stated above, the interior was rather good, if not ahead of its time, but the main airframe... Nothing fitted as it should have and where it did looked just awful. Trying to fit the internal details was a utterly thankless task that ended up with 6 inch fatherless-child files being used before consignment to the local land fill. Also the decals were in keeping with the plastic - horrible. misaligned, smeared on one side and fragmented immediately on contact with water, even after copious slatherings of Future and Decalfix. (Attempted use on other models). Blaming that as the model that kicked off my PTSD Christian, exiled to africa with a stash devoid of certain products by Roden, Beechnut and Merlin, hence sane(ish) again

Very nice! Is there any link to that rather nifty jig? Christian, exiled to africa

Very nice your rear-admiral-ship sir! So how many cubits and perches in length is that masterpiece? Christian, exiled to africa

Thanks Mike , now I do not feel so bad. Christian, exiled to africa P.S. Is that the correct shade of blue...?

Hi Lord Riot, Built two when it first came out and have two more stashed away... It is not a straight forward 'modern' assembly job, but it can be built and looks like the beloved Brick once completed. There were two main problem that I found; 1 The plastic used to mould it had some unusual characteristics. It was soft and seemed to lack something in its chemical recipe. It suffered from sink marks/holes to a lesser, or greater extent, (usually greater) and readily warped, (see 2, below), again to a lesser, or greater extent, (again, usually greater). Some of the warpage made truing up the fuselage halves frustrating as there appeared to be some distortion of the basic plastic components. I think this distortion was due to the components being ejected from the moulds before being fully set - another problem with the chemical recipe, or manufacture???. 2. A lack of bulkheads, especially for the long fuselage halves, to help true up and support the main components. I resorted to making my own bulkheads and adding sprue spacers and tabs, where possible, along the more problematic joints. The surface of the plastic had a pebbly finish which was more marked in some areas compared to others. On my builds it was either removed during the sanding down of filler, or smoothed out by the application of primer. Yes it is a bit of a putty queen! Take your time and do not expect a shake-and-bake journey. You will end up with a Brick and have developed your modelling skills to boot! Or wait for the Tan Models Brick I will be getting a Tan Models Brick, or two, but will still build those in the stash as well. Christian, exiled to africa

Count me in! Probably something South or Central American related. Or there again Middle East, or African, or Central European, or Nordic, or... Christian, exiled to africa

to Mike's madhouse! Not a Kernow descendant, but I like the pasties. Christian, exiled to africa

Should I just give Duncan B, (BlackMike Models for the uninitiated, and highly recommended), my card details... Christian, exiled to africa and hoping for whatever they make!

Hi Tony, One of my favourite Matchbox models! Must have built several over the years, including two that were hanging from my son's bedroom ceilings. Certainly two had similar shrinkage, one so bad that there a series of holes running parallel to the trailing edge. With so many interesting, unusual and down right tempting schemes to choose from it looks like there may be more Tempests in the future... How do you rate the three kits? Christian, exiled to africa

Hi Tony, Looking good! So will it be the Battle of France scheme? Christian, exiled to africa

Hi Fozzy, Had been wondering what you were up to. Nice! So I'll settle in with a and and watch the shenanigans carry on. Merry Crimbo and a Happy New Year to you and yours! Christian, exiled to africa

Hi Botan, I built all of the variations produced by Roden. Basically it is a standard set of sprues combined with a specialized set to produce the variant boxed. So you get lots of parts to join together to produce what another manufacturer would design as a single piece. IIRC the fit had some 'issues' too. Together with this they were very delicately moulded in almost scale thickness, which 'could' add to another level of frustration/enjoyment. There were also lots of parts on the sprues left over so the spares part box had a good feeding! In a nutshell, very detailed models but frustrating to assemble. They were the final nail in the 1/72 coffin. Afterwards I became a 1/48, or larger, devotee. Hornby/Airfix. keep going, we need you!! You make it I'll buy it! Christian, exiled to africa

Sounds about right... That, or the Fiscal Year 2018 Defense Authorization

Very nice, particularly the texture/pattern of her coat and clear improvement between first and last. Keep this up and he might need a repaint! Thanks for the info. I also use Vallejo and find them a great joy to use once the foibles have been worked out. On-On! christian, exiled to africa

Nicely done! The secret to tartan is slow and steady with well thinned paint, not that you need to hear that as she looks great! I think my favourite is the seated lady; simple with subtle colouring and nicely finished. What paints do you use? Christian, exiled to africa

Hi! That's what I am going to do, but the other way around, ASR followed by FAA, (Argentine!, Wot is there another FAA?) Yes, painted with aluminium lacquer - to prevent corrosion, sea water can do some crazy electro-chemical corrosion to aluminium. Internals - Interior Green. Christian, exiled to africa

Great to hear, petal! When I saw the airframe in Linkoping, (two .. over the o), I thought the undersurafce was a slightly darker, more intense version of RLM 65. HTH. Christian, exiled to africa

Crack-on Mike, you can do it! One of my favourite Swedish aircraft. So which markings are you going to apply, (between Crimbo and New Years?). Christian, exiled to africa

Interestingly one reason that the book mentions for the re-spray was that, (P. 271), " Very often the crates containing pre-painted component parts became split up in transit and when reassembled, it was clear that on several of the earlier Tomahawks, the camouflage pattern/demarcations did not align correctly. When this occurred, the maintenance unti had to re-spray the adjacent components in an endevour to obtain a consistent camouflage pattern which accounted for many of the so-called 'non-standard' camouflage patterns seen on theses aircraft." Interesting, as I was under the impression that Curtiss used rubber mats for stencils and were know for a consistent finish. As to the 'non-standard' patterns? First I have heard of this and it looks interesting! Christian, exiled to africa

In addition, the Black applied to the port undersurface appears to have had at least two interpretations looking at the photos in the above mentioned book. 1. A full wing to the center-line, (very clear on P. 273, central image P. 274 and possibly on one airframe - coded E?- at the bottom of P. 274). 2. A partial wing finishing in a curved margin outside of the Port undercarriage fairing, (very clear in the image at the top of P.273 and possibly in the lower image on the same page). The book states that this curved Black area was a special identification marking applied for anti-invasion exercises, with the Army. Christian, exiled to africa

Hi Artie, From, Jones, R.C., 19??, Camouflage & Markings RAF Northern Europe 1936-45, Tomahawk, Airacobra & Mohawk, No. 12, Ducimus Books Ltd, London. Page 273, "By November 1940 the aircraft operating in the day fighter and army co-operation roles were camouflaged in Dark Green and Dark Earth with Sky under-surfaces. The squadron code and individual aircraft identification letters were in Medium Sea Grey and the spinners were Sky. The fuselage roundels were Type A.1 and those beneath the wings, Type A. Upper wing roundels were Type B and the fin flashes consisted of three vertical stripes of Red, White and Blue, each 8in. wide and 27in. high." A signal, (X.798), dated 27/11/1940 issued to Fighter Command stating that from Dawn 15/04/1941 the underside of the Port wing should be painted in semi-permanent Black with a Type a.1 roundel and a 18in. wide band, in Sky, painted in front of the tailplane. It appears that all had been resprayed in RAF colours. HTH! Christian, exiled to africa

Hi Meatbox8, Mammal-like reptiles, or Synapsids were one of two evolutionary pathway groups of early reptiles in the Late Carboniferous - Early Permian. They evolved into the Triassic Therapsids which eventually evolved directly into (Early Jurassic), early Mammalia. The other group, the Diapsids, later evolved into the Dinosauria proper. The Synapsids evolutionary route is recognized by a variety of morphological adaptations including; 1, lengthening limbs that become more tucked in under the body 2, larger brain cases 3, reduction in the number of phalanges 4 ,development of the bony palate 5, reduction and diversification of the dentialies 6, confinement of teeth to the mandibular crown 7, single bone for the lower mandible Though it should be stated that, initially, not all of these changes happened at the same time, nor did they appear in any particular order. As to live birth; No. If you look at the evolutionary history of the true mammals, (Monotremes, Marsupials and Placental Mammals), the Monotremes were egg layers. We know this as there are still five species of Monotreme extant today; the Duck-Billed Platypus and four species of Echidna. All egg-layers. Live birth, in this evolutionary lineage, makes its first appearance with the Marsupials. Clear as mud? Now,to stop any more errant, rampant thread creep. How about a new Dh Mosquito in 72 and 48 scale? There is one 'up north', a Mk II I believe... Christian, Britmodeller's tame Palaeontologist in exiled to africa