lasermonkey

Really? While the Tamiya kit may have finer panel lines, the Airfix kit captures the shape way better (and has more options in the Mk I/II boxing). I'm also not seeing the negative reaction to the new P-51D, P-40B and Typhoon. The Airfix P-51, IMHO has a better cockpit, a dropped flap option and the best wheel well in 1/72. I don't recall anything about shape issues either. The Hasegawa kit is expensive, has a poor, shallow wheel well and no dropped flap option. And seeing as Hasegawa has yet to do a Typhoon in 1/72 or P-40B......

I never could work out which colour HD2 Bright Green was supposed to represent. Any ideas?

I'm pretty sure that WEM does dull dark green ( along with bronze green, iirc) in their Colourcoats range.

Am I right in thinking that the problem part is the underside, from the gullwing section rear wards, and that it doesn't slant up enough? It was quite a while ago that I did mine! If so, I think I made the section quite thin (and therefore more flexible) and superglued it. I've yet to find a kit of a spitfire where the wing to fuselage joint doesn't require some effort to fit well.

I built their Mk 22 and all I can really offer is that I ground, filed and sanded the living daylights out of the wings, but they did eventually fit. Keep at it, the Ventura Spitfires look really good once built!

If the lid is plastic, you definitely shouldn't leave anything stronger in there, such as IPA, paint thinners, etc. We had one at work and while we used IPA in the tank, we always made sure it was removed after use. Well, one of the apprentices forgot to remove the IPA and the lid had all weekend to deal with the effects of evaporating IPA. The plastic crazed, broke and in some places, went quite soft. It never was the same after that! If you do want to use any thinners, I would advise using something like an old 35mm film canister to hold the thinners (and any airbrush part you want to clean) and sit that inside the ultrasonic tank, with water inside to help transfer the ultrasonic energy. That seemed to work quite well.

A few more I can think of: AIM/Rugrat: Airspeed Courier; Airspeed Envoy; Bristol 142 'Britain First'; de Havilland DH84 Dragon; de Havilland DH86 Express; he Havilland DH90 Dragonfly; Westland Wessex. AML; Arado Ar 79; Siebel Si 202 A Model; Aero 45 Azur: Cierva C.30; Fairchild 91; GAL Monospar Dekno: GAL Monospar; Miles Falcon; Spartan Executive (must get one of these!) Dujin: B.A. Swallow II; de Havilland Moth Minor; Desoutter 1; Miles Mohawk; Miles Hawk; Miles Gemini (I am *so* glad I got my hands on one!) plus a lot more (I can't remember them all!) Huma: Fieseler Fi 5; Focke Wulf Fw 44; Klemm Kl 25; Klemm Kl 35; Messerschmitt M35 Kiwi Resins: Auster J series; de Havilland DH83 Fox Moth; Percival Vega Gull Magna: de Havilland Dove; Percival Q6 Petrel MPM/Special Hobby: Douglas DC-2; Lockheed Vega Model 5; Lockheed Vega Model 5 Floatplane; Lockheed Orion; Lockheed L-10 Electra Lockheed; L-12 Electra; Lockheed Lodestar; Vultee V1 Pavla: Cessna T-50 Bobcat; Fairchild 24; Miles Messenger; Siebel Fh 104 RS: Airspeed Envoy; Curtiss Hawk; Zlin Z-XII;Zlin Z-XIII; Zlin Z-212 I have a few Aeroclub Tiger Moths, Fox Moths and a Comper Swift in the stash, but I will now be on the lookout for the Klemm, Puss Moth and Widgeon!

There's also the Dekno kit , which I have in the stash. I don't think that will be easy to find either! The Miles stable (including the Southern Martlet) would be perfect for someone like AZ to do.

I *think* that Dujin did a kit of the b2. I've been looking for one myself. :-) Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys, I have quite a few walkaround type pics on my photobucket site ( www.photobucket.com/albums/1003/lasermonkey ) which you are welcome to use. Please be aware there are a lot of sub-folders to go through too! I used to be a Friend of Duxford and consequently managed to get quite a few interior shots, so those might be of use. I was also a member of the SVAS and got some access to a few of the aircraft not normally available to the general public. Cheers, Mark. (Full name for photo credits- Mark Mills)

I think the Klear reaction is down to the smoothness of the Lifecolour paint. It's happened to me a few times. I found that if you keep on adding coats, the streakiness (is that a word?) eventually disappears.

Lovely looking MiG there! plus it's nice to see another Rickenbacker fan on the forum. :-)

I have a 'made in the UK' tin of. Humbrol 56 and that suffers from the same translucency as the aforementioned RLM enamels. I was really hoping that moving production back to the UK would have sorted out the QC issues that Humbrol has had of late. I also have a large stock of Gloy and Compucolour enamels, as well as lots of old Humbrol, some even dating back to the early sixties! Coverage is excellent and the smell! Ahhhhh! Takes me right back! I think that the Gloy 74/75/76 combination is spot-on. I'm using it on a brace of new Airfix '190s at the moment. Incidentally, I bought a tin of the Humbrol RLM 02 and the coverage is very good if W&N flow enhancer is used. I think it's a little on the dark side, but does have that greeny, browny grey thing going on.

The hurricane's fin is offset to counteract the torque from the engine. Worry not, it's supposed to be like that! :-)

Model Alliance sheet MA72147 has three fabric-winged Hurris on it, including Kain's 'Paddy III'. I imagine it might be a bit tricky to find now though!

I just cut the barrel off, at the point where it would be half way through the transparent part. I glue the rearmost part to the inside of the transparency and attach that as you normally would. This leaves an easy to mask surface. You can add the barrel(s) later right at the end of the build.

I would imagine that Airfix will break even with this one on sales to me alone!

Hopefully you won't have done anything to the wing yet....! To quote Tony OT..."Also,...the lower wing halves are longer than the upper halves but they are supposed to be like that so don`t trim them to the same size!" Hope I'm not too late!

Top of the list for me would be a Gladiator, closely followed by any of the Hart family. There's a Shuttleworth connection (sorry!) there that could benefit both parties. Otherwise, a re-tooled Spit Mk I would be ace, as would a Tiger Moth, Defiant, Whirlwind or P-40.

I have one of these (along with four of the Rugrat Resins kits), so I'm definitely watching with interest! Great work!

Westland Whirlwind ?

Just ordered one. Couldn't convince myself to wait! :-)

ps you'll find them in the sub albums menu. Some of the sub-folders, such as "Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc" have their own sub-folders for individual aircraft. It's worth checking all the folders, just in case! The Tiger Moth ones should keep you busy for some time!

You're more than welcome to use anything that's on my Photobucket site. There's a lot of walkarounds on there and a number of interior photos too. You can find it here. Hope this helps, Mark. ps you'll find them in the sub albums menu.

I did one in the past and although it was ultimately quite a rewarding experience (and I certainly learnt a lot doing it!) it really is a case of "open box and insert new kit!" I used an Airwaves replacement nose, Aeroclub prop, Falcon Clearvax canopy and turret (guns came from an Novo Blenheim), Airwaves etched brass set (heavily modified to get it to fit, as seems to be the case for Airwaves stuff), a new tail built from plastic card and a load of filler. It came out looking like this- I'm reasonably happy with it, but could do a lot better. I wouldn't mind having another go some time, just for the challenge. I've always had a soft spot for the Defiant.