Stew Dapple

Agreed; reading this you might be surprised or perhaps even puzzled at how the normal reserve of the British seems to evaporate on exposure to our American visitors, but the fact is that Edward, Cookie and Navy Bird Bill are just so bloody nice that you instinctively want the best for them and for them to experience the best of us. It it was a great pleasure for me to meet all of them and I know Jamie was of the same opinion, they are three thoroughly good blokes and kudos to Ced for his hospitality and logistical skills, without which this whole trip would quite possibly have not taken place at all. Even if his trunk is a bit, er, small (could just be the cold weather you know... ) Cheers, Stew

I'm late to the party but am inclined to agree with your assessment; if you ever do find a photograph of a BoB Spitfire or Hurricane with the black/white divided underside, it is overwhelmingly likely that what you have actually found is a mis-labelled or mis-attributed photograph. Which, as you note, is perhaps a shame from a modeller's viewpoint, but of course there's no reason you can't also build a Battle of France-era Hurricane or Spitfire as well... Cheers, Stew

Jamie and I should be there about then too - looking forward to seeing you, It has been a real pleasure to spend some time with you all over the last couple of days Cheers, Stew

Nice job Zac - coincidentally I saw the actual aircraft on a YouTube video the other day though it was without its prop at the time... Cheers, Stew

The last time I made the pilgrimage to Hannants I suffered the same 'box blindness' that Ced complained of; after about half an hour I was just blankly scanning rows and rows of kit boxes and not really seeing anything... rather disappointing, but I'm pleased to see Edward and Cookie were apparently not affected Cheers, Stew

Thanks very much gentlemen, I think using the IP decal on the clear part is probably the best way to go, there's no way the decal would have settled convincingly over the raised detail on the front side and applying it to the back gives more depth to the dials than you would get with an etched IP set, however nicely printed. I painted up most of the floor detail as per the kit pictures; the joystick still needs painted and the oxygen bottles at the rear of the left console need a touch-up but it is essentially finished: I also fitted the seat and headrest to the rear bulkhead: Unfortunately Jack has still not recovered from whatever it is that is ailing him, and tomorrow I am trekking south with Jamie to Telford, I'll be off up to Aberdeenshire shortly and leaving Jack in the care of my folks in the hope that spending a long weekend with their three bitches (2 x Jack Russels and a Patterdale Terrier) will provide the tonic for him that it usually does... Cheers, Stew

Hannants have a 'Future Releases' price suggesting an RRP of £43.99 but with 10% off if you pre-order it... I suspect (without any evidence) that it will end up around the same price as ICM's I-153 kit i.e. in the mid-thirties... Cheers, Stew Edit: d'oh! Ninja'd by Julien!

Nice job Habu, she's a beauty I wouldn't say a buck an ear was particularly cheap though Cheers, Stew

You really are a very good reporter Edward, thank you. Despite all the bad news, rage, strife, hostility, irritation and petty vindictiveness in the news it is always refreshing to get a reminder that, at 'ground level' at least, most people are fundamentally decent and some soar even above that Cheers, Stew

it's not just a question of photographs and moisture, AMT-11 and particularly AMT-12 were extremely susceptible to fading due to both exposure and the passage of time, and, unfortunately, not at a uniform or even a similar rate. This site gives indicative chips of the average colours but bear in mind that no two aircraft would necessarily weather in the same way unless they were in the same place for the same period of time... and even then it is not guaranteed - the photos show a great deal of variation regarding the actual colours. The Colourcoats paints are matched to colour chips that provide what should be the factory finish, as to interpret the amount and effect of fading is simply not possible due to the possible variations noted above and in previous posts, and the subjective nature of the perception of colours by the individual/camera/type of film used/weather etc. As I understand it, at this point there is no definitive standard for 'in-service' aircraft colours and this is likely to remain the case for the same reasons. Cheers, Stew

Thanks - I built the Hasegawa 1/32 kit last year, and it is a very nice model (different boxing to yours though, by the description, I don't recall a comic in my kit) which results in a very good representation of a J2M3 ... but I have to say the detail in this kit knocks the Hasegawa kit into a cocked hat. Obviously I need to wait and see how it turns out, but so far I have no regrets about buying this one. Thanks Ced; I think he's feeling better, he's certainly whinging less though I suspect that might be because the anti-biotics have been making him sleepy; at least as a result of that I got a couple of decent-ish night's sleep. Yes, a trip to the vets - even though my vets are very good and I never feel they are adding anything on or doing anything unneccesary - is always expensive, but in fairness if someone had asked me beforehand would I pay that amount of money to have my dog feel better, of course I would have gratefully forked it over. I applied the instrument decal to the back of the clear instrument panel part - if you find yourself in this position and are tempted to do the same I recommend you study the topography of the back of the instrument panel part as it is not flat but variously faceted and angled, then cut the instrument decal into sections and apply these individually. Then I attached the IP to its mounting frame: After that I attached the side-panel of the IP and did the detail painting - I'm very pleased with how it turned out: Hopefully I'll get some more of the cockpit details painted today. Cheers, Stew

I'm sorry for you too Dan, I'm sure we've all bitten off more than we can chew at some point - well I know I have, so I hope you don't feel too bad and have better luck going forward. Thanks for the refund too. Cheers, Stew

I got a notification today for an e-cheque refund from Out of the Box from PayPal titled... "eCheque payment in progress" Anyone else? Cheers, Stew

None whatsoever Crisp, and I'm not knocking British cuisine myself, as it made me - for better or worse - what I am today. Clearly we have come a long way from the old days of tripe and dripping, but I still think it's fair to say that the rest of the world views British food with a distinctly jaundiced eye Cheers, Stew

I shall look forward to your observations and your progress, safe journey to you all Cheers, Stew