CedB

The pleasure’s all mine Bill - great to see you and thanks for your company

Thanks Stew, Bill, Martian, Giorgio, Keith, Chris, John, Terry and Ian for the welcome back. It was a great two weeks and I really enjoyed the guy's company and meeting some new and existing BM chums. Tiring, but memorable You're using one of my builds as a guide?? You'll need that divine help Jason Still a bit cream crackered this morning but did re-read the thread to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything… I checked the markings on the bombs and used iModelKit to calculate the width. The bombs have .5” (scale 0.176mm) red band 1” from nose and 1” (scale 0.35mm) light green band 4” from nose. I have to take MiL (oh my goodness, Mother-in-Law is a helicopter!) home soon so while I'm out the question of the day… What colour red and what light green please? Anyone? I've checked my transfer stock and don't have anything suitable so I'll have to print something from Inkscape. Later.

No worries Ben and I hope the tooth is sorted!

Oooh, I have one of those! What do you need Rob? PM me… (Glad you're back safe Cookie )

Whose? 'She who knows better's'? I'm confused Stay warm and safe Bill, we need you fully recovered

My task is over, my goal has been reached… two fun packed weeks, one packed T-Roc boot (ahem) and 1,600+ miles later, there's a Sunderland to be attended to. Once I've read this thread to see what the heck I'm doing A gentle return to the bench saw the bombs have their fuses painted, Bill's Dad's box painted and the bomb rails blackened: I've also run some more Klear into the fuselage trenches. Let's see what the morning brings

@Navy Bird, @Procopius, @Cookenbacher it was an absolute pleasure! I hadn't visited all the sites on our tour before, especially in the far flung depths of the East, and the companionship and knowledge you added made the trip just as special for me… (BTW I've updated the Google itinerary to show the actual trip) The trip has confirmed my view that the aircraft museums in this country fall into three categories; those that are run by enthusiasts, those run by well funded Trusts (rare) and those funded by 'National Agencies' who insist on monitoring visitor numbers and offering 'education' for hoards of screaming children who seem much more interested in seeing who can shout the loudest and run fastest past the exhibits. They also have to include 'models' that show how things work (to give the kids something to 'engage them') which restrict the space available for proper exhibits and usually break within weeks. Pah! Grumpy old man? Me? As if… Thanks to everyone who joined us and especially to those who arranged 'special tours' - really appreciated chaps! I'd also like to give a special mention to a few sites where people put in that extra bit of pleasure (in order of attendance)… Old Buckenham Airfield 453rd Museum where Jim (who runs and builds the place single handed) opened up his archive to find the details of PC and Cookie's relatives. We 'got lucky' that Jim was there; it's usually only open at weekends. Midland Air Museum, where Barry (their Chairman and Curator) had done his best to get the Sea Vixen 'coal hole' open but made up for it by introducing us to Gordon and his 'working' Victor Flight Deck. He also arranged to open up the Vulcan. A great museum and a great day. Of course it has occurred to me that when you return in 2015 for the 85th anniversary of the BoB it will NOT be during winter closing times! That means we'll be able to take in the South East sites and, especially, the De Havilland Museum. I shall be 71 (I'll be 71 you know) by then and it may well be that the transport I have will have a larger boot (fingers crossed), although it may have the wheelchair in it… Great times and great memories - thanks chaps.

Nice work Rob and I hope you get the transfers sorted

I did. A Brigand and a Bombay at least. Yes they were a pain. Some people never learn... That said, if you want a Buckmaster... Good to see you again Rob. Enjoy the stand, I really like mine

All packed: Small trunk my bottom T-Roc. They all went in except PC’s third bag of kits and books: Quick visit to Runnymede Memorial: Then off to Heathrow. Safe flight guys! And yes, this time I got out of the airport in one go

Just for the record, here's our final (completed) itinerary… Fri, 1 Nov 2019 BA 1541 arrives 22:40 Sat, 2 Nov 2019 Leisurely breakfast Tour of Bath and Helicopter Museum Aerospace Bristol Visit to the Local Pub Sun, 3 Nov 2019 Boscombe Collection with Crisp and Avereda Army Air Museum with Avereda and Aeronut (thanks Alastair for the tour) Overnight The Kings Arms, Sandy, Beds Mon, 4 Nov 2019 Shuttleworth Collection Old Buckenham Airfield - we'll be posting something later to help Jim, the chap who runs it, put some models in his cases. Premier Inn, Norwich Tue, 5 Nov 2019 Norfolk & Suffolk Hannants Premier Inn, Norwich Wed, 6 Nov 2019 RAF Marham East Kirkby Bomber Command Memorial Premier Inn, Lincoln Thu, 7 Nov 2019 BBMF Newark OYO Dakota, Badington Fri, 8 Nov 2019 Midland Air Museum with Gorby Castle Bromwich Roundabout (don't ask - we had some time to fill!) Navy Bird arrives BHX 16:50 Sat, 9 Nov 2019 Scale Model World! Great to see you all Drink and dinner with BMers Sun, 10 Nov 2019 RAF Museum, Cosford Mon, 11 Nov 2019 RAF Museum Conservation Centre, Cosford IWM Duxford / American Air Museum Overnight Premier Inn Cambridge and visit to The Eagle Tue, 12 Nov 2019 IWM Duxford / American Air Museum Wed, 13 Nov 2019 Fleet Air Arm Museum with terry1954 Frome Model Centre (some things were bought!) Thu, 14 Nov 2019 Runnymede Air Forces Memorial Heathrow! When I get home later we will have travelled over 1,600 miles. A great trip and thanks again to all who helped, or joined us on the visits.

No problem Simon! The 'kit': Easily assembled in minutes: The bottles are a nice tight fit so the Alclad bottles don't fit I'm afraid. From Frome Model Centre today:

From the great shop at Newark Museum: I was very good at Telford - my annual pilgrimage to the Squires and Sphere stands only resulted in this: The MicroSol stand is a must have for clumsy people like me who have knocked a bottle over the table and decal sheet and the Figure Stand (bottom right) is recommended by Fritag so, obviously, when I use it some of his skills will rub off too… It's been suggested that we do a WiP for these, but where to put it? Finally, I picked up some of these FREE from the Sphere stand: Brush supports for the bench. I saw these at a show a couple of years ago and showed them to everyone I met there. Either I lost it or gave it away and I've been looking ever since. Happy (sad old) man

Seconded!

Nice work Michelle