Stew Dapple

I think I see them, abaft the cockpit, below the spine? I'm assuming it's them anyway, I certainly can't read them Nice to see the fuselage checks match the tail colour perfectly Cheers, Stew

Masterly understatement there Bill, she looks gorgeous Cheers, Stew

Me too Cheers, Stew

And Grant wins, with a technical knockout! Lightning's coming along nicely mate Cheers, Stew

That turkey does look good I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving, bit unsure on how it was that you came to be the one who got 'thanked' but obviously I'm pleased for you Cheers, Stew

It might be a pain to do it, but the end result is looking good Bill Cheers, Stew

That's very nice work on the seat Edward, it stands up to scrutiny even in the macro shots Good luck with the big bits Cheers, Stew

Lovely work Patrick, she's a beauty Cheers, Stew

Once again I stand in admiration of your sheer stubborn bloody-minded determination to get it right. We have a semi-serious saying in my family: "You will", allegedly originally deployed by my Dad against recalcitrant inanimate objects attempting to defy his will. I'm not sure if he ever actually did this, or if he did it only once, or if it was just something my Mum dreamt up as being typical of his attitude to recalcitrant inanimate objects attempting to defy his will, but it took on a life of it's own In any case, on a few occasions on this build I have pictured you, hunched over the bench, muttering "You will". Cheers, Stew

Hi WP, I actually did have that issue with the gunsight mount, I'd forgotten about that - mine was definitely biased to the right, but I managed to cut it off and reposition it without doing any noticeable damage. I didn't notice any probem with the front part of the canopy though; that may be because I did file the back part of the cowling before I even tried fitting the canopy as I noticed a slight horizontal step between the port and starboard sides after I had joined them... it looked like it might have at least caused a gap later, so I filed it flat. It could have been that which saved me from a fit issue with the canopy later Cheers, Stew

The resolution (or whatever the appropriate term is) on those stencils is incredible Unless you have a giant Biro somewhere I didn't know about Cheers, Stew

Here's my latest completion, the Revell Spitfire IXc in 1/32 scale, with Techmod transfers depicting an aircraft of the Royal Egyptian Air Force in the turbulent days of 1948: The kit was built almost OOB apart from a few additions that were, respectively, (probably) necessary (Barracuda resin main wheels with the block tread pattern), indulgent (Quickboost resin exhausts) and experimental (Quinta Studios 3D decals for the cockpit). There isn't much to say about the kit and certainly very little in the way of negatives, it's almost certainly not as good as the Tamiya kit and it's certainly not as expensive. It goes together well and at the end it looks like what it's supposed to represent. There seems to have been quite a lot of variation in REAF Spitfires, with some (at least) having treaded tyres, some with round pipe exhaust outlets and some with 'fishtail' types and some with the cannon in the inner bay and some in the outer. The kit was painted with Colourcoats of course, the interior in ACRN28 - RAF Interior Grey-Green, the underside in ACRN34 - WW2 Azure Blue and the topside camouflage in ACRN10 - Dark Earth over ACRN11 - Middle Stone. Various detail parts were painted in Vallejo acrylics and Tamiya clear paints. From what I have been able to find out, which wasn't a lot, these aircraft were supplied to the REAF in Day Fighter Camouflage and repainted locally in a non-standard pattern. The markings were from the Techmod transfer set, and they worked okay but it was a bit of a struggle in places, particularly the wing roundels which have to fit over assorted bumps, and the rear fuselage band, which still bears signs of crumpling and folding. The upper wing ID stripes were noticeably short, I'm guessing they were designed for either the Tamiya or the PCM kit, I retouched the gaps with Vallejo black and off-white. You may have observed that the fuselage roundel on the starboard side is facing the wrong way, on the Spitfire 22's that were supplied to Egypt the moon and stars face toward the front of the aircraft on both sides, but on this particular aircraft (no. 664, I cannot vouch for the others supplied at the same time) the starboard side has the moon and stars to the left of the roundel's centre circle, as on the port side. The aircraft is identified on the Techmod sheet as being aircraft 'L' and it's possible that's what it was, or it may have been a touch-up on a repair, REAF Spitfire VB's had code letters in Latin letters rather than Arabic so there is a precedent in theory. Anyway, it was a fairly quick build and I enjoyed it; the Quinta set might have been more worthwhile if I had left the canopy open, as it is you really can't see it, which is a shame as the instrument panel in particular was beautiful. You'll have to take my word for that I'll link what few references I did find below. Aircraft 664 was comparatively well-photographed, as it crash-landed in the Sinai Desert and was recovered by Israeli forces for repair, or as a source of spares for their own Spitfires. I couldn't find any information on what happened to it before or after the photo's were taken. Cheers, Stew https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/supermarine-spitfire-in-egyptian-service/ http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/AE/AE07-2/22-1.jpg http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/AE/AE07-2/21-2.jpg https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Spitfire/EAF-SAF/pages/Spitfire-MkIX-REAF-664-being-towed-to-Israel-when-the-undercarriage-colapsed-01.html

Ali, at some time or another, we all are, or will be, that idiot Cheers, Stew

My gods Edward, you do write a good intro. I'm ambivalent about the Lightning, having had the wits scared out of me (never to return) by one roaring perpendicular to the line of the crowd from behind at low-level when we were all looking at another aircraft in front of us at one of the Duxford air shows back in the day, when such things were probably considered character-building and a jolly jape. It was, though, an undeniably impressive display of raw power, you could feel it. So I'll tag along for the build just because. Hope you have a good one mate Cheers, STew

Very nice job indeed Luke I know what you mean about the small parts too Cheers, Stew