Uncle Dick

Thanks for the advice chaps, as a follow up this was Hannants reply following email with photos of the culprit roundels

1/72 CONCORDE with bonus 1/72 & 1/35 figures of Her Majesty QE II or more likely a 1/48 MOSSIE

There is a distinct large bulge at the front of the side fuselage sponson (both sides of the fuselage where it says "NAVY") in the BELOW artists rendition of CMV-22B (not present in the above posted artists rendition) - just wondering as I am the first to comment on this new feature (not seen on USMC MV-22B or USAF variants) whether it is an artist mistake or whether it will actually be part of the real thing???? Which leads to my next question the extra fuel and range that the CMV-22B is supposed to have over the standard USMC MV-22B WHERE EXACTLY IS ARE THE EXTRA FUEL TANK(S) LOCATED ON THE CMV-22B is it in this new bulge on the side sponson as seen on the artist rendition or is it tanks in the cargo hold decreasing the useful internal cargo hold????? or somewhere else altogether???? If the real CMV-22B variant really does have extra fuel tank bulges on the side sponsons it would make it a superior air to air tanker than the standard Marine MV-22B which the Marines are looking at introducing (roll on roll off fuel tanks and drum reel located in the cargo hold) as it would have the extra fuel and range over the standard MV-22B...very interesting... Edit: Just found the following from Flight Global which indicates there will be either enlarged sponsons for the extra fuel or externally mounted fuel tanks (In my opinion why not have both?)

Brilliant, and darn it the new britmodeller has deleted my favourite emoticon (or I just cannot find it?) so this will have to do: <bouncing boobs removed>

I was raised on the old Matchbox & Airfix kits and hence am a tad disappointed with the weapons load out - the vintage Matchbox kit (although crude tooling by todays standards) was way ahead of its time, take a look at the options on offer enough to start a war (images from http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63597)

I am still grumpy at Hasegawa for not providing a rear cargo ramp "open" option not to mention a basic interior cargo hold (or that they skimped on the weapons bay on their recently released F-35B) both in 1/72! And just imagine all the combo kits they will release of these 2 aircraft in the future...

While I am a big fan of aircraft carriers, unfortunately I believe these 2 carriers will not last longer than 10 to 15 years (and I ruddy well hope I am wrong!) in RN service due to future defence cuts; as much of the Royal Navy strength has been decimated by cut after cut... so while I would like to see Osprey in UK service it will be very unlikely, the RAF is already dictating a cut back in the number of F-35B's purchased and a preference for the F-35A! The carriers will probably be sold off to India or Brazil in the end... Oh and this ruddy RAF policy of not having squadron markings on the F-35 is ruddy man-vegetables... ghastly that is and disaster for modellers all over the world....

Airfix are part of the PC crowd now - no swastikas allowed at all decals or box art !

Would say they will scale down some of their 48 scale releases, so a Sea Fury, Meteor or Walrus in 1/72 might be on the cards, probably a Hunter in 2020/21... They will likely do the Mossie in 1/72 regardless New tool Westland Wasp and Scout in 1/72 has been my long standing request, however, I have realised that will likely not happen while I am still alive!

The above box art if correct for the Zvezda release is the same box art as was on the Dragon kit, would have thought Zvezda would at least release new box art?

Gents, this is fairly old news... There is a new look coming to the F-35 later in the year! With a sleeker, more uniform coating system, F-35s are saving time in Aircraft Final Finishes (AFF) and saving dollars. The design and new look didn’t happen overnight, but rather was the effort of many people over the last five years. In 2012, James Thistle came to Fort Worth from F-22 in Marietta as the Production Operations Senior Manager in AFF. He quickly recognized the need for improving the throughput of AFF, which at the time was operating at almost double the scheduled span and cost budgeted for the area. After pitching a potentially significant opportunity to his then-director, Tom Carrubba, now vice president of Aeronautics Quality Transformation and Enterprise Integration, he was able to gain the initial support for changing the engineering design, coatings material and the application process used in AFF. “What resulted in the end was several days of span time saved in AFF and one of the most positively impactful affordability projects on the F-35 to date. It saves significant hours per unit, defects and rework and improves the aircraft sustainability in the field. It also changes the exterior look of the aircraft to a more uniform coating,” said Carrubba. “The Aircraft Finishes configuration required the preparation and applications of various materials, which aesthetically appear as jig saw panes of various shades of gray across doors, panels and control surface edges. The manufacturing process to yield a complying product are extremely labor intensive and requires unique skill sets and more so concentrated attention to detail, which meant more labor and processing span in AFF," said Thistle. "Despite the immense efforts amongst the F-35 Finishes organizations, the process often yielded escapes and as a result contributed towards the organizations number one driver for quality defects." The idea to optimize the process by eliminating multiple masking operations and the need to manually hand spray various top coats by using robotic application during the final top coat application; or “Z13” overcoat as it is more commonly known, was conceived. The project will reduce the cost of an F-35A by $16,000 per aircraft and will save $49 million in the total life of the program. Chad Wemyss, Delivery Operations Manufacturing Engineering (ME) manager, has been working on the project since picking it up as AFF ME Lead in 2012. “This has been one of the most intense collaboration efforts I’ve taken part in. It has involved several years of testing by the Signature Integration and Materials and Processes (M&P) teams, as well as close teamwork with Production Operations, Finishes Engineering, Sustainment, the Affordability team, the F-35 Program Office and the customer, Joint Program Office (JPO). There have been a lot of stakeholders with different aspects of project inputs and requirements and keeping the whole thing moving forward has been challenging, but also extremely rewarding,” he said. The team kept with it and the results were evident when AF-104, the test aircraft for this project, finished its final coatings in AFF. Implementation of the change is expected in the 2nd quarter of 2017.

Thanks for that - although on researching their product they do not have the fins/vents already placed on the raised panel which I take it you would have to scratch build not to mention placing each individual fin equidistant to the next there are 10 of them which might be a tough ask given how small they are? If only QUICKBOOST did their 1/32 & 1/48 scale offering (see below image) in 1/72 much superior to RESI-IM as you do not have to glue each fin and you don't have to build a scratch panel for each side! I wonder why QUICKBOOST did not do it in 1/72 scale if they did them in 1/32 and 1/48????? What a pity...

Thanks Lads - for all the suggestions, shall in the end contact Hannants! The sterling community that is Britmodeller certainly had a most calming effect on my mind after my "Roundel Tantrum"

Received the Xtradecal X72254 1/72 Dassault Mirage F.1B Part 2 Two seaters decals from Hannants and surprise, surprise all the Iranian roundels are not centred/out of register. What to do now? 1. Throw a Roundel Tantrum? 2. Send them back to Hannants from Australia with love? 3. Use them for target practise? 4. All of the above? Through them in the junk stash with all the Berna and Authentic Decals out of register (already quite a collection)? Seriously - what to do?

Right, finally received my order from unlucky model - on opening said boxes current Hasegawa boxings of 00548 & 00549 do not have the updated heat exchangers!

Crickey! Airfix have released another winner the "Battle Damaged Marauder", that German FLAK is intense to say the least... If only Hasegawa could re-release their Marauder... My sympathies, am now frightened to open any new Airfix boxing as to what surprises await!

Looks good, though I will have to wait about a year or more for the premium prices to come down on the Royal Class...

Right thanks, have ordered a few of each shall report back in a month or two after kits arrive!

Has Hasegawa updated the heat exchangers on their catalogue 1/72 F/A-18E & F/A-18F Boxings (that is to say specifically in the box 00549 & 00549 (they had the recessed rectangular exchange exhausts on both when initially released) I have noticed they have the newer exchangers (with the strakes) in all their other recent limited edition boxings - just wondering if they appear in the catalogue boxes below now or are they still the old mould? I have lots of aftermarket decals and so am not worried about the using the box decals just want to build kits with the upgraded exchangers and if one wants to buy a limited edition from Hasegawa they are roughly twice the price of the catalogue standard release boxings...

So some news on the missing parts from Hobby Link Japan - they have started shipping these out to the unlucky sods like me that received the dud kits, lets hope they are the correct sprues and that they do not arrive smashed to pieces ... Imagine quite a few unlucky people will not know about the issue and these dud kits will continue to cause headaches for modellers in years to come for those that are sold on evil bay and second hand many years down track...which is a pity as they are not cheap kits by any means

Received following response from HLJ this morning: Thanks for your message - we are currently reaching out to the manufacturer to see if we can get these parts. It should be no problem because this is a known issue with this product. Thanks for your patience, I will get back to you soon!

Same here, just received mine and same problem - was going to post a warning here but you beat me to it Ah what the hell will post a warning anyway! I have written to HLJ for the missing trees - poor quality control from Fine Molds! Chaps if you have ordered this kit - check it on receipt; 2 bags of duplicate Trees D, F and G in box; hence the box is missing Trees A, E, L, M and it is impossible to build the kit...

Looks like an outstanding model by Airfix - the box art reminds of the classic Matchbox box art which is still the best in my opinion!

Must say for anyone dilly dallying as to whether to buy this F-1EQ boxing just received mine and it is absolutely exquisite - I quickly ordered a second! Outstanding work Special Hobby

1. Westland Scout 2. Sepcat Jaguar 3. Blackburn Buccaneer 4. DH Beaver 5. British WWII Commandos (soldiers) 6. Centurion Tank 7. HS Seahawk 8. French Foreign Legion (soldiers) 9. WWII DUKW (amphibious vehicle) 10. SA-2 Guideline SAM + Zil transport and trailer 11. Bristol Bloodhound SAM + Landrover and trailer 12. Mirage III 13. Sikorsky SH-3 Seaking 14. All the battlefront sets Guadalcanal, El alamein, Stalingrad etc... 15. Douglas Skyraider 16. BE Canberra bomber 17. Martin B-26 Marauder 18. Westland Lynx (Army and Navy version) 19. Lysander 20.WWII Westland Whirlwind MkI Not necessarily in that order