KevinK

Okay - here's one: Who designed and built not one but two six-engined triplane bomber prototypes, on two continents, neither of which entered production?

The Christmas Bullet!

Was it the Short S.B.5 ?

Well, I think I got a bargain, when I bought one for US $46 two weeks ago. Perfect box, everything was there, except for the paint and cement vials (no great loss), even the original Frog tissue wrap around the larger parts. It was a "Hail Mary" bid on eBay, which I really didn't expect to win. Something north of $100 would be more usual.

... and I will be number 30, if I may!

It doesn't seem to be a general rule: some manufacturers do provide duplicates, some don't. Aeroclub didn't but the Eastern European ones seem to do it more often than not. Falcon don't, IIRC, but Squadron - who used Falcon as a canopy manufacturer - seemed to think that providing two was a good idea. I suppose it's down to market assessment.

Because there's no such thing as clear Milliput when the cutting-out goes wrong....

Probably a quick blow-over respray to hide the rust.....

Wearing Army battledress may have been quite common in overseas theatres. I recall having a conversation with my Dad - who flew Spitfires in Italy and Yugoslavia in 1944-45 - about a photo of his, where several of the pilots were clearly wearing non-standard uniforms. He said "Oh, I always wore Army kit on ops, because if you had to come down in German-held territory, you wanted to make contact with and join up with the Partisans. They would expect you to be able to fight and you would need to blend in, not stand out in an RAF blue uniform." By the way, this also meant your escape and evasion chances would be better off (i.e. less likely to be shot out of hand by the Partisans as a nuisance) if you brought your own sidearm, so the pilots flew with weapons sewn into their flying clothing. Sorry for the late & slightly off-topic reply! I can only admire the skill displayed here with these figures: it's exceptional work.

Shhh....you'll spoil the surprise - they're Christmas presents for someone!

Excellent! ...and of course it later became more famous as Supermarine. Over to you.

As it has gone a bit quiet here, how about a clue? The loser of the bet was Fred Handley-Page. So which company did the winner found?

... and I think that's why there's no definitive answer, once you get away from the original company. Each successor and especially different countries will follow a different path. All I can say is that the original company seems to have used the traditional English (well, Norman French, really) way of presenting the family name. After that, ....?

That's not really a direct successor company, though. The original company was subsumed into Hawker Siddeley, later BAe, etc. The De Havilland Aviation company dates from 1988 and is "Jet Heritage" renamed, a warbird maintainer.

Interesting factoid, by the way, the actress and major Hollywood star Olivia de Havilland was Geoffrey de Havilland's niece.

The "correct" way is "de Havilland".

Also, beware of the fit of the three-piece cowlings around the engines. Before you cement, make sure that they close around the engine - you may have to shave down the tops of the engine cylinders. I had to!

Bump

...and that sums up the true Britmodeller spirit!!

Just as a point of practical information, my Dad flew Spitfire VIIIs and IXs in 1944/45 with 253 Sqn in Italy and Yugoslavia. It was standard practice to keep all the immediate readiness aircraft plugged in to the starter trolleys.

Not on a Mk IX.

Short and simple answer - yes! There's really no other way to start it, unless you use the aircraft's own battery, which is very marginal for this purpose and not really up to the task under cold conditions/first start o the day. Operationally, the aircraft would be at readiness, with the trolley-acc left plugged in.

Thank you again, Paul. I know that we - as modellers - are usually involved only in the colour/appearance of the material, but the engineer in me thought that we could get at the answers via knowing the materials properties and chemistry: clearly, this has yet to be found, if it still exists at all.

If I have the ball now, here's one: Which aircraft company was founded with the proceeds of a wager with another famous manufacturer?

That's very interesting - thank you, Paul. As the "active ingredient" from a chemical point of view is - in this case - the zinc chromate, would you happen to have the spec for what the corresponding ingredient was in the other two? :