Uncle Dick

Botan - I think you may be awarded a Gold Medal - my sentiments exactly, and given that the P-36 was also in use during the Pearl Harbour raid the odds are sure at least to double! And an RAF boxing for the Far East of course may not be a bad thing... we shall see.

Anyone seen the Airfix 1/72 Lighning F.6 with tail planes on the actual box kit yet ...? I purchased 2 a few months back from Hannants and they were still without the tail planes on the box art. Tongue in cheek - perhaps it will be a New Release for Airfix 2017!

The flag on Mirage No 560 to my eye the crescent should be much more chunky (extra wide) and the star should be off set not centred Enlarge the below pic to see what I mean

Oh No - I can feel another attack of the ANTSCADS coming on! Did I take my medication nurse Take six tablets of these red pills and if symptoms persist, another two of the red pills !

I wish Academy would get with the program and provide colour painting guide profiles, Black & White is very passé for this amount of money!

Resolution is a touch low but believe it says 100 inside of the circle marking so presume 100 octane, another thread I read also says that some were used for water! Anyway heres another image presume fuelling up - but interesting to note simultaneous fuelling of 2 (possibly 3 aircraft at the same time) what a tempting target that would make! and some of the better circulated images

Here she is at my local (the former HMS Nabberley in the Antipodes) on shore leave while mother was in Sydney during your cruise in 1988! A real pity we don't see the RN FAA here any more...

Oh Gawd - not a Dog Fight double in 1/24 please...the kit box would be as big as as a lorry!

Well my No 2 Choice for a Airfix 1/72 new toolie (after the Westland Wasp No 1 Choice of course ), would have to be the Fairy Flycatcher with wheel and float options and all you numpties that say they can't do one because no real examples survive can sod off! Bet they come out with De Havilland Mosquito instead !

Excellent research and modelling work Simon Great build!

Outstanding build you have with the Liberator diorama! Nice photos too! Thanks for the link re the Clarktor Heavy model, was not aware it existed, very nice, but my resin modelling skills are not what they used to be - I seem to break all the fiddly bits when taking them off the runners (even with some of the plastic kits...)

Airfix are now showing the Martlet in stock ! Not long to see what they have done then with all the suggestions from this excellent thread ...

Just opened the box of a 1/72 Airfix Benovelent Fund Boxed Hawk T1 and it does not have the open Canopy option while looking at their Standard T1 boxing it does have an open canopy option - are there any other differences between the kits apart from Canopies and lack of stores? And why do they have different canopies in the first place?????

Just noticed that Academy has the bomb lift trolley with a WC-54 dodge ambulance and what appears to be a Clarktor variant aircraft tug in 1/72 I read from the following forum http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12055 that over 1,500 Clarktor type tractors (though may not be the version Academy provides) were also produced for the British Ministry of War Transport so may not be out of place at a British Bomber field as well ! Edit: just found this image of a RAF "Heavy" Clarktor with six wheels

Right'o thanks chaps after your tip off on the "dolls eyes" found this from a pilots forum:

What does the reference to the "flotation gear magnetic indicators" mean at point 16. of the Wasp operating manual? If it refers to the emergency flotation gear why would they have magnets or does it refer to magnetic compass orientation?

The fact is the statistics show that Italeri is producing Italian subjects/variants/decals/boxing out of all proportion to other main manufacturers! What a coincidence Italeri is Italian, at the risk of repeating myself, pretty much the same national bias is borne out by the other main manufactures Airfix - British, Hasegawa - Japanese etc...

Given all the Marine A-4M squadrons one would think some would want to maintain carrier proficiency and do CARQUALS with their A-4M's but images are non existent or if they do exist - we have not seen them, the few images/film are mainly testing an A-4M as on the youtube clip or the Frenchies testing an A-4M in the seventies off Foch if I can remember correctly. But again no operational US Marine A-4M's on carriers - which is most peculiar, or OA-4M's... for that matter!

Well I am glad you do not see a perceived bias Giorgio, but I think Nationalistic bias is real and present (I am not saying it is a bad thing as some kits simply would not be produced without nationalistic bias - look at the new tool Hasegawa Emily due in December for example or the new tool Airfix Victor or all the Trumpeter Chinese releases that no body else does!) Now then regarding Italeri releases over the years you might be overlooking many, many kits not to mention boxings of Foreign types with Italian markings - Merlin variants, all the Caribineri/Navy/Airforce Augusta Bell variants, Macchi MBB 339, Macchi MB 239, Frecci Tri calori special anniversary releases, and the list goes on, have a look at the ground releases as well, and the ship releases... God I just bought the LAPD Bell 206 and guess what it comes with Italian Police Markings! Give me a break! Just for arguments sake - which company has released the most Italian subjects and/or boxings/variants with Italian markings over the years in every scale? Are you seriously telling me its not Italeri by a mile?

Mama Mia, Italeri prefer Italian subjects, Airfix prefer British subjects, Hasegawa Japanese subjects, ROG German subjects What a surprise, we are all shocked Italian subjects are leading the Italeri poll!

Many Thanks FAAWAFU, most informative and thank you for clarifying! While on the subject of the Imperial War Museum - I noticed they have quite a few more photos of Wasps that are not online - certainly many more than the few photos they do have online - imagine the delights, and surprises that await anyone venturing to have a look at their collection in person, just do not rely on their captions! Heres another interesting image from the IWM collection http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205220461 - I never realised that Royal Marine Scouts also had the emergency floats fitted - which makes sense for over water ops... most photos of Royal Marine Scouts are without them fitted...probably to save weight and not required for flights over land (I would presume some Army Scouts would also have them fitted when required)

I wish one of the quality figure model companies like Zvezda would make a whole series of 1/72 figures for the Falklands War like their Hot War series: 1. Argentine Marines 2. Argentine Army 3. Argentine Agrupación de Buzos Tácticos (Commandos) 4. Heavy Weapons Set and crew 5. Anti Aircraft Weapons Set and crew 1. Royal Marines 2. British Paras 3. SAS/SBS 4. Heavy Weapons Set and crew 5. Anti Aircraft Weapons Set and crew

Thanks for posting Finn - very nice assortment of kit there! Airfix might want to do a Cold War Maritime Strike/Patrol Aircraft Resupply set - they would certainly empty my wallet!

Tally Ho 71chally thanks for that, was not aware RE Italeri and made amends (Italeri is not my preferred model company for a Wasp kit but beggars cannot be choosers!)

As matter of interest - I have never ever seen a photo of an in service USMC A-4M on an aircraft carrier period - let alone an OA-4M I have seen earlier models on carriers such the USMC A-4E's and Navy training TA-4J's but not the "Marine Mike" variants! Australian Navy TA-4G's did not operate from HMAS Melbourne as I am told by ex drivers there was a "centre of gravity issue" with the TA-4G operating from HMAS Melbourne. I have not even seen a "touch and go" photo with the TA-4G and HMAS Melbourne, while American aircraft carriers were much bigger than HMAS Melbourne, perhaps the OA-4M had the same issues re centre of gravity??????? and operating off carriers????? As I said the TA-4J had no such problems operating from American carriers see below: