John B (Sc)

Blimey, 50 bracing wires with adjusters! I thought the number of adjusters in the old Slingsby T21 and T31 gliders were bad enough, but fifty ! Thanks for the explanation of the rudder blanking once the tail goes down. I should have thought of that. I seem to recall one airfield down South which insisted on having the local Tiger Moth land on the tarmac rather than grass, because of the grooves they claimed it dug. The tailskid spoon was constantly having to be reinforced with a sacrificial plate. John B

Super - thanks JohnT. I shall likewise order two for my two kits, later tonight ! Excellent stuff Ali - am amused to see we are all based up here in Scotland ! Perhaps the many years of Lightnings at Leuchars has soem small part to play. John B

I see there are three Stratotankers cruising in a very loose formation heading SE over Scotalnd - just passing near Perth now. The same sort of pattern as a similar three aircraft flight a couple of days ago. Out to just North West of the Hebrides, orbit a couple of tiems then off SE across Scotland. Two from Mildenhall, one from Spangdahlem. I wonder if they are practicing for an exercise, or escorting transatlantic traffic that is not squawking. Though why would such traffic not squawk - perhaps could get the conspiracy folk seriously wound up with that ! Especially since one is a KC-135R, which is a recce machine and the other two are KC-135Ts, re-engined -135Qs which used to refuel the SR-71 using JP7. Plenty scope for conspiracy ... John B

That makes sense, given the comments about excess g loads and other effects during ejection. I wonder if the seats have an option to set pilot weight, so that the seat electronics can take account of the variations in crew mass and size?

Exatraordinary and amazing bravery from all these Coastal Command crews throughout the war. To fly for hour upon boring, dangerous hour over open ocean in often appalling weather, then to suddenly have to leap into an attack - and in this case to then turn around and make a second attack despite damage and injury; that takes a lot of courage and determination. An impressive example ; I'm proud to be an alumnus of the same school as Mr. Cruickshank.

Your S1S experience will be helpful there then ! Haven't flown an S1, but found the S2 - A or B enough of a handful on the landing ground run in even a light crosswind. Take-off was quick enough not to be so much of an issue in a Pitts. In a dead calm, presumably landing on grass would help provide some drag, although the tailskid might do a fair bit of damage. Is it the lack of brakes (in the Dr1, I am guessing) and the long period when you are slowing but have little effctive control left thiat is the concern? Nice aerobatics - leisurely, beautifully controlled. Looked like you were having great fun, and keeping warm on a cold January day ! I was tryingto work out which field you were flying from. Also a gliding site - Looked like a T21 and possibly an ASW-15 parked off to one side of the runway. That build is superb.

Thanks Troy (and Jamie). I know the theory, and sometimes even get it right. Impatience is my biggest challenge... (Well, next to the absurd courier charges for living in what they consider is not part of 'the mainland'. Really? ) John B

Thanks Dennis. That's always been my weakness when airbrushing, both fullsize machines and models. The temptation to do just one more pass - and then - 'whoops, runs pou can hang your hat on' ! Must resist... John B

Thanks Dennis, that's reassuring. Those thinning ratios are most helpful. Time to try out my new(ish) airbrush ?! Cheers, John B

Hello all. A quick check with those who know more about this topic than I do. Is Humbrol 79 a fair match for US Navy Blue Gray, as used on early F4F Wildcats? Or are there any other Humbrol enamels of suitable shade still availaible? The range now seems limited; I do still prefer enamels for model spraying purposes since I find sprayed acrylics rather too fragile in finish (more practice and investigation needed!) Alternatively, I may try Colourcoats, who seem to have both USN Blue Gray and US05 Light Gray currently available, I've used Colourcoats before,, though I don't believe I've tried spraying them yet. Has anyone got experience of spraying using those? I realise that colour fade in naval use was considerable, so it's possible to justify quite a range of shades. I am intending to paint one F4F as being fairly factory fresh, and perhaps a later one as a well worn example, to practice my toning skills. Regards, John B

Thanks all. That helps a lot - it looks as though 48" by 24" is the correct size. And as SafetyDad says, the letter K is one of the easier ones to re-jig from other letters. John B

Hello, Can anyone tell me what was the size of the dull red code letters which were painted on some RAF heavy bombers during WW2 please? The 617Sqn Lancasters for the Dams Raid specifically. I think 48" height is correct, but was the width 30" as I think, or the narrwoer 24" ? I have a friend whose uncle was in the crew of an aircraft which was lost on the Dams raid; he's not normally a modeller these days, but he'd like to build the re-issued Airfix Lancaster B.III Special in his memory. I have the right serial number change, but although I have some code letters spare I don't have the 'K' he needs - I only have that in grey ! Possibly my wife, who is a good artist, can modify grey codes or use them as a template for a red version, or perhaps these red codes are available online. For that, I need to know the right size to look for. Or - does anyone have a couple of red 'K' s to spare? (Actually it occurs to me that perhaps Airfix missed a trick here. If they had included codes for all the Dams raid machines, as they did for the Red Arrows a while back, that might have added to sales. Although perhaps they could easily sell all they moulded !) Thanks John B

Maybe I'm missing something. The Lusitania sank many years ago, didn't she? RMS Lusitania was named after that province; my grandfather made me a wooden model of her sister ship Mauretania on which I think he briefly served as an engineer.

Ah, of course - the Socata logo. Thanks. Ours only had the MS designation on its fin , not the Socata logo !

Lovely photographs of a type I flew quite a few hours in, tugging. A question - are you sure that is a Rallye and not a Koliber - the Polish built version? The emblem, rather faded, on the lower fin looks a bit like the PZL bird. I think soem Kolibers had a larger fin, though I can't be sure. I know the MS880 that I flew had the earlier rounded wingtips. The 'tin parachute' and the French called it - and a link to early aviation days with the Morane Saulnier name and type designation. Thank you for those pictures.

This has been a most fascinating topic to read through. I am now wondering what to modify my remaining Matchbox Victor to - though maybe I shall build my Airfix one first. One slightly off-topic question occurs to me, having looked at 'canberrakids' drawing of the fully bunged and tagged Victor. With so many tags to remove, did the crew chiefs keep a tally board to house them all, so they'd know they were all removed? Seems to me the only way to be sure !

Superb work on this, Columbia20713. I especially liked your description of the work involved defining the shape of the curved sections of waves and dophins on the rear fuselage. I too had great difficulty eliminating those seams where the cockpit windows section joins the fuselage. Very difficult to sand to a good fit without damaging the transparency sections, I think your end result there was excellent, better than mine - hardly visible at all on yours I found no trouble with the engines, although there is a tricky assembly part where three hands would be useful briefly ! It would be easy to get parts from the alternate engines mixed in by mistake - perhaps that is what happened. Zvezda's underccarriages always are a challenge for me too. Terrific end result, lovely looking livery.

My apologies 'dwh', I rather like the new binding style; overall should be considerably better for longevity - I tend to re-read my magazines a lot & often the centre pages start to come out as the staples rub through the paper. (Sadly though, the centrefold isn't as exciting as the ones I remember from my yoof. ) Hopefully, the new binders will help. Since I keep my magazines in order (supposedly) along shelves, the new spine printing means I will be able to find the right mag faster, maybe. I did notice the change in paper quality too ; glad to hear that won't be repeated - I didn't think it was really bad, but certainly not great ! Hmm - as Gary wryly commented - " Sir, Imagine my surprise..." ; it didn't take long !

Thanks Selwyn, most helpful. Quite a range of weights & sizes.

Oh good. Wow, that is quite a modification exercise - gerat stuff. My wife has just found the standard sized wheels from her build - a well organised lady! The exhaust on your club's aircraft - is it a longer silencer type? The Pawnees we operated after the Super Cub were modified to have long silencers as used (and mandatory?) in Austria and four blade props for noise reduction.

Paul J - the Super Cub at Southdown has been modified to use a Lycoming O-360 in place of the O-320 typically used in a standard Super Cub I think, That is a 180 HP engine. The bullet you describe is the air intake filter I think - the Super Cub at my field was modified to a 180HP O-360 engine and had that same prominent change. Other than the changed cowling, the modified Super Cub should look much the same externally. This was a long time ago, so perhaps memory is dubious... (Personally I much preferrred the handling of the 150HP version but the extra climb performance fthe 180 wa handy with heavy two seaters on the back, especially with a short runway & limited wind ! ) The white cover picture Super Cub model looks to be a 90HP Super Cub, no flaps. I think the red plane kit is also a 90HP Super Cub without flaps. Not sure about the most recent Revell 'Sports Plane' - the black and white machine 'D-PCUB. The cover picture makes it looks as if the cowling may have the modified intake 'bullet' of a 180HP variant, just as the 'Bushwheels' version had - my wife built one of those so I have just checked that. G-BEOI as she now is would be most easily built from that 'Sports Plane' I think. Does that help? I'm not sure about headlining etc. I shall have a look through my stash and 'parts bin' when I get a chance. I have built a floatplane 150 HP Super Cub and a 90HP Luftwaffe Super Cub (that may be the same boxing as your red plane?) so should have some bits left over. My wife thinks the Bushwheels kit came with standard wheels as well as the oversize ones. There is another Cub somewhere in my stash. Ought not be too difficult to modify one into another, though I thought using the floatplane kit would be the simplest start point for modelling my old tugging steed. Yes, 'texantomcat' - the way Piper took Cub wings and attached them low down with those massive struts in compression seems weird at first. Terrific beast to fly though! John B

Thanks Selwyn. Were these, or similar arrangements used in earlier years, by the FAA for instance? I have a memory of old style 'imperial' measure sizes being quoted, way back ! The 4lb short nose bomb sounds a bit too small for the tail of our trophy and tye pix I saw seemed to show simple cruciform tails on those. The 28lb or even 14kg type too big I suspect. 3kg, ~ around 7lb - maybe, though seems small . Hmm !

What size(s) are the practice bombs which are carried in these CBLS please? I have seen pictures of very stubby looking little things, but also older pictures of what look like miniature versions of conventional bombs. Our local gliding club has a trophy which appears to be made of the rear part of an old style practice bomb, with nicely shaped fins, cast in aluminium I think. It may have come from the FAA forty plus years ago of course. I have a vague memory of people talking of 12 lb or 14lb practice bombs. Is that right? John B

Having seen a completed but uncorrected Trumpeter Lightning, it is horrible. I have also seen a modified one, which looked ~ acceptable. The builder detailed the many mods he'd made. Impressive dedication ! Meantine, my Echelon Lightning is still at the initial stages of parts preparation, but everyting about it does look mouthwateringly good, and it is worth it just for the drawings alone ! (I was lucky, I bought my Echelon kits direct from the designer, many years ago.) My Hunter still takes priority when I get the urge to tackle more vacform work. Nearly finished that, at last.

Tacky looking scheme for what is a rather fine aircraft. Of course it had to be foreign; we don't make any business jets now. (Though the old HS125's derivatives are apparently still popular in the USA.) And apparently civil owned by Centreline Aviation despite the RAF roundel. Sigh ; Is there anything not outsourced these days?