eng

Having done some research on building a Gannet cab myself, most of what you need is already in the box! XV699 flew out of Gannet with fuselage code '23' so inverting the last two digits of the kit registration deals with the registration change. The nose numbers 823 are in the kit Whilst at Gannet the machine flew with the large Ace of spades card on the belly, this would need to be sourced, but is on one of the newly announced Xtradecal sheets. The Saltire on the battery/avionic hatch could be - a) painted, b) paint the blue rectangle and use white decal strips to get the cross, or, c) if you've got some old Bae Hawk decals kicking about use the fuselage markings from a 151 Sqn machine Finally the 'PW' tail codes could be sourced from aftermarket white numeral sheets, the spares box or left off as I've seen photo's where the chopper has no tail code, there's also a pic showing the machine still sporting its previous 'CU' codes. One other observation I've noticed on a few builds is the placement of the black decal that is aft of the main sliding door. I believe that on the real thing this is part of the waterproof floor covering that protects the interior structure from dripping wet salty sailors/rescuee's, and as such the decal should be placed right up to the edge of the cut-out, not further back from the door. Most of the Gannet cab's carried the sand filter as well so make sure and use the appropriate inlet parts for fit of the filter unit. Looking forward to seeing some nice Gannet Mk.5's! Eng

Excellent info, great bit of detective work. Eng

Thats absolutely stunning! looks beautiful with those markings. I'm still working through my first Zvezda Herc, a RAF bird, but considered these markings for one of the others in the stash. Beautiful work. Eng

Having built the Academy 1/144 kit its an absolute beauty, can highly recommend it. Eng

Evening all, Looking at this photo, I'd be inclined to say say that the trailing edge wedge of the slats is "slotted" with the darker bits being recesses and the lighter sections forming the triangular wedge shaped cross section of the trailing edge. If this is the case it could serve one of two, possibly both, purposes - weight saving and possibly to assist with airflow control. The slotted lower trailing edge would certainly leave a similar pattern on the upper surface of the fixed leading edge after a few retraction and extension cycles. Now off to see if I can find some drawings/info on C-5 slat construction. Eng

Thats a beautiful looking Cat! Very nice choice of schemes and very well finished. Eng

If I remember correctly I think the builder took the crew figures from a Zvezda C-130 kit, they would certainly do the job if you could locate a surplus set. Eng

Mask off the area around it using white tack and tape to get a 'soft' edge and spray a lightened mix of the original top colour, just add a tiny drop of white at a time until you're happy with the variation in shade. Eng

Just another thought on these marks, I'd be tempted to offer the suggestion that given how consistent they look in width and spacing they are some form of teflon/anti-abrasion tape applied to the fixed leading edge to stop the lower aft edge of the slats damaging the fixed leading edge on retraction/extension. It would be far easier/cheaper to replace tape strips regularly rather than expensive structural repairs to the fixed leading edge. The A319/320/321's that I work on have a teflon strip along the span of the slat, under the aft edge, and the fixed leading edge of the wing is painted with and anti-abrasion paint for the same reason. Slats are usually designed to have quite a snug fit up against the leading edge when in the retracted position, particularly along the aft edge where in my experience on the Airbus and B737 the trailing edge touches the fixed leading edge with no gaps. As such the last bit of the retraction and first part of the extension see's the slats slide across the fixed structure. I'll be interested to see if anyone with in depth C-5 knowledge can confirm what the strips are. Certainly a very good question. Eng

A light dust with black primer under the grey area's might work out nicely if you're planning a shaded/patchy top coat, white or pink works best under the red area's though! Eng

Beautiful, some stunning paintwork and weathering. Eng

Thats a beautiful build, very tidy indeed! Eng

This is looking superb Mike, even the primer coat really makes all that detail pop out nicely. Hopefully mine will arrive tomorrow, cant wait to get my hands on it. Eng

You're quite correct - Hi-loks are interference bolts which are usually secured with a collar where the hex drive section is designed to shear off once a predetermined torque is reached leaving just a circular collar on the thread of the bolt. Used very widely in commercial aviation these days. Eng

Thank you for the info! The rate I build kits there will be a HAR.3 out before I finish my first one 😉 Eng

Lovely work so far, am eagerly following this and Mike's builds in anticipation of the forthcoming release. From what you've seen does the kit contain all the parts for a HAR.3? I'm no Sea King guru by any means but I cant see any major external bits missing. Eng

Hannants have a note on their homepage saying 30th Aug Eng

I love that! What a superb looking Bucc. Nicely weathered and definitely looks used. The combination of schemes is surprisingly eye-catching too. Beautiful work. Eng

Great set of pic's and you must have been at the same time as I was as I've a few shots of the same movements. I'm closer to Glasgow airport than Prestwick but very much prefer Prestwick for the mil movements. The Norwegian 787 was broken up inside the Chevron hanger on the South side of the airfield next to the Ryanair facility. Hate to think how long it'll take to clear all the carbon fibre dust and material out of that facility! Eng

Superb set of photo's! Some absolute belters in there. Eng

Just catching up on your progress Mike, its looking rather tasty! I've been trawling through a lot of Sea King HU.5 images online and I reckon you could get away with that GSI H3 red. When the cabs are clean, it is quite a nice deep red and quite glossy on some machines too. Looking forward to your next installment. Eng

Thats a great looking Hog. Very nice indeed. Eng

Seat support rail stripes look amazing Mike 👍 The cabin interior is looking superb so far. Eng

Hi Mike, I've linked my Junglie build - If you have a look at cabin window forward of the sliding door, and the two on the port side in the last couple of pics in the initial RFI post you'll see what I mean about the stripes removable sections. If you can find a good close up of any Seaking of recent years I'm sure they all have this feature, but I'll gladly be proven wrong by those in the know. Cant wait to see the next instalment. Eng

You're builds looking fantastic so far Mike, I really can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Not sure how far you're planning to go with detailing but a notable and visible feature on the Seaking is the support rods that hold up the top of the cabin seat backs have removable sections that are black/yellow striped where they cross the windows. It was something I wasn't aware of until I did my 1/72 Airfix Junglie a few years back (should still be an RFI thread from 2016-ish). I painted the support rails yellow and used a black fineliner to add the stripes. Eng