Jure Miljevic

Vinnie, model building is a permanent learning curve, at least for me. I usually keep a box top and only bin second (third, fourth, ..., n-th) box of the same kit. I sometimes keep the whole box that I like and use it to store spare kit parts. For example, I keep 1/72 scale non-aviation related figures in 1/72 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat box from Revell, the one coded H-639. Cheers Jure

Agreed Chris, Airfix is a generation above the old kits. I have two of them and while I parted company with two of my Matchbox Gladiators, I still keep one in my stash. Cheers Jure

Thanks, Chris. Sounds much like comparison between old Matchbox and Heller Gladiator kits. Cheers Jure

Hello Sorry, I did not pay attention to Boulton-Paul turret shape. While I had been aware of heavy influence, as Seahawk put it, or inspiration, as Graham said, on Academy/Minicraft kits, it is new to me that Ventura/Lodestar/Lexington kit in 1/72 had been produced earlier by other manufacturer. Also, I had no idea about wing drop on this aircraft and would think fixed wingtip slats, designed to improve low-speed aileron response, would cure such shortcoming. Live and learn. Cheers Jure

Hello, Mac Not really an expert for BA Jumbo's, still ... I thought the main trouble would be to adapt name of an aircraft, but check photos on Airliners links below: B747-136 G-AWNC and B747-436 G-BNLD happen to carry the same name, City of Belfast. http://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Airways/Boeing-747-136/1284119/L?qsp=eJwtjLEKAkEMBf8ltRYiWFx3WtiphWAdsg89PN0lCZzLcf9uXOyGGZiZJL8dH7/WAurIwCoPWlFh5ZdRN9MTdcqagum47m%2BnQ1TL6vsaJrGjF0FxpL8/a4L%2BEkza6B7jTQD00pi2u/BpsDJye8B5GGlZvhcRLjg%3D http://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Airways/Boeing-747-436/24630/L?qsp=eJwtjbEKwkAQRP9la60Ei3QJgo2ohT%2Bw7A3x4MwduysYQv7du5Bu3swws5DkyfHz11xAHRlY5U0HKqz8MeoWUozRXNljnnrxL6faux6H%2B%2B1Se5bVh7k6gR29CIoj7P5DA7RFMNkmx3ZxahL63OlcMUQribcVOMdE6/oHo/Iycg%3D%3D So all you need now is a bit of luck with finding missing white first class door outlines. Cheers Jure

Hello, Joe I have this kit in RAF Ventura II guise, although personaly have a slight preference for SAAF machines. I have never put parts on drawings nor checked the kit's scale accuracy, so I cannot comment on these. This kit is very basic, although dry fit of major parts seems to be very good. Otherwise ... wheels are very basic, undercarriage bays are about 5 mm deep, flat and without any details whatsoever. Cockpit is basic with only passing resemblence to the real one. Similar story is with a Boulton-Paul top turret, which has reasonably good transparency, a part resembling gun barrels and hardly anything else. One has to say the same for a ventral gun position. Engines consist of a star and a half each, somewhat undernurrished propellers and much too shallow engraved cowl flaps. Transparencies in general are good, but somewhat on a thick side. Panel lines are engraved and very thin, although slats in front of ailerons do not look very convincing. Bomb bay doors are given in one piece, which can be separated without too much trouble, however bomb bay's interior is non-existent. I got this kit decades ago and it can probably be build into something presentable with some AM parts added or through considerable scratchbuilding effort. On the other hand, there is not many other kits of B-34 available in 1/72 scale or at least I have no knowledge about any other. Not much, but I hope it helps. Cheers Jure

Dogsbody, I must say I envy you that Siskin kit. Anyone knows, how does Matchbox SBC-4 Helldiver compare to Heller kit? Cheers Jure

Hello, Julian My computer broke down, hence late response ... Interesting new method for applying white paint. The closest I ever came to this is gloss white rattle-can auto repair spray, which did not work very well. Still, I am willing to try your method out and I have just the guinea pig I need in a form of DC-9 in 1/144, almost ready for painting. Do not worry about decals, Julian: once you determine proper printer settings it is not difficult at all. Cheers Jure

Antoine Agreed, but Great Britain's aircraft industry was in even better position, yet they produced not only Wessex, but also turbine versions of older and less capable Whirlwind. I suspect the main reasons behind that were not military, but economic. Cheers Jure

Colourful cheat lines, Julian. I am looking forward to learn new tricks about applying gloss white paint. This part is always the most difficult one for me when building airliner models. Cheers Jure

Hello Do not have to ask, RJP, I presume you are talking from a personal experience, probably not the happy one. Photos can be misleading, agreed, so here are quotes: ˝The split flaps, fitted to early Wirraways were supplemented later on by dive brakes.˝, ˝The Royal Australian Navy used the Wirraway for training purposes at Nowra after the war, aircraft being converted specially for the Navy as CA-20.˝, The Commonwealth Wirraway, Profile Publications, 1967. CA-20s were converted from earlier sub-types and are not even on production list. Also, I have never seen a photo of a wartime Wirraway without split flaps. Cheers Jure

Hello I understand all Wirraways retained split flaps throughout the WWII. According to Profile publication ordinary flap conversions had not been carried out until after the end of the war, when a number of Wirraways had been brought to CA-20 standard, which also included wing replacement. These plane served as post-war trainers for RAN. With the Lark Force Wirraways one hardly needs to worry about this. Cheers Jure

I have no deep knowledge about how things are done in Russia, but back during my time in JLA this command allowed us to stand in a more relaxed manner, take a glance to your left and right and perhaps exchange a quiet word with a soldier next to you. Judging by the photo, I assumed at ease has more or less the same meaning in the Russian Navy. During my year of Yugoslav equivalent of UK National Service I certainly learned that higher rank does not necessarily command obedience or respect. Our battery had been under nominal command of Lieutenant, who finished Military Academy only a year earlier. In reality, experience outweighted rank and he had been the third in a pecking order, after Ensign First Class on the top and Senior Sergeant one notch below. That seemed to be a natural order and I am sure with a passing of time our former CO regained power and respect befitting his rank. Back then, however, hardly anyone took him seriously. Yet I had never seen or heard anybody questioning, opposing or refusing to carry out direct order of superiors, at least not openly. ˝I understand, comrade (add rank here)!˝ was an universal subordinate's answer. Whether an order had been actually carried out, was another matter. Cheers Jure

Hello, Dayey Just a short remark about flaps: under the central wing section Texan had one piece flap and Wirraway had two with not so narrow gap between them. Cheers Jure

Yes, T7 Models, but they seem to be at ease and not eyes front. Also, I do not think Russia has NCO pilots so I imagine proverbial Warrant Officer would probably react in somewhat watered down fashion. However, if one of top brasses present would bother to subject them to a square bashing drill, that would make quite an entertaining show, as those orange survival suits would stand out nicely from a white background. Cheers Jure

Hello, nsmekanik I understand your point now. I remember reading Eric Brown's article about Bearcat in which he made a brief comparison between Grumman type and Sea Fury. He rated both as ultimate piston-engined fighters. He stated, that Bearcat had higher climb rate but noted that Sea Fury is a more stable gun platform and also preferred latter's cockpit arrangement, which included some blind flying instruments, absent from the former. I have this article somewhere, but unfortunately I have not been able to find it. I do not think Sea Furies could be deployed on CVEs, let alone MAC ships. I do not have numbers handy, but I think her MTOW was some 2000-2500 lb. higher than Bearcat's and she certainly had considerably higher minimal landing speed. So, in your scenario Sea Furies would be confined to fleet carriers only. Cheers Jure

Well, I work with inkjet printer but your description of making laser printed decals does not sound that much different, certainly not when it comes to black and white drawing. Good luck with cutting decals and I hope I will see your Su-33 kit in RFI section soon. Cheers Jure

Hi, Peter Agreed, it should not be too difficult to scratch build these two struts. I checked the rest of the kit and fortunately it does not seem that any other part is missing. Cheers Jure

Hello, drake122 You probably know all about the following, still ... check photos on this link: http://navy-korabel.livejournal.com/153916.html You probably noticed that not all Su-33 have whale ornament or mission markings, so you can still build a combat veteran Su-33 with decals available. You can always draw orca decal on your computer and print it at home, but you will need a lot of patience to cut mask for a white background necessary. Cheers Jure

Hello, Robertone 139 I think this photo had been taken on Severomorsk 3 airfield near Murmansk. I would not expect to find much of white sand there, certainly not in early February. Cheers Jure

Hi, nsmekanik I am not quite certain if I got your point. I mentioned Seafires and Sea Furies as a part of broader alternative development of the war, although your were more specific in your scenario. As this is your ARWIF, we can forget about fleet carriers and indirect cover. It sounds too much like PQ.17 anyway. Also, I must correct myself about hangars on MAC ships, as they had been installed on grain MAC ships and not on converted tankers. Another detail worth mentioning is that later in the war there were usually two MAC ships attached to each convoy. So, in your alternative scenario Dora/Mistel pilots would have to deal with at least two, if not three, merchant aircraft carriers and their fighters. I hope it helps. Cheers Jure

Hi, Antoine Improvised use of captured (or perhaps part of war reparations?) German weapons, then. I did not know about Pirate popularity, though. Had this type also been armed with cannons? One also wonders, why no conversion of H-34 to turbine power had been attempted in France. On the other hand, there were plenty of new turbine powered helicopters coming from production lines by late 60', so such conversion of by then an obsolete type would hardly be economical. Cheers Jure

I will repeat my suggestion about Grumman Bearcat, nsmekanik. So, if convoy would have been escorted by US Navy, Bearcats would be in typical Atlantic scheme of Non-Specular Dark Gull Gray on upper and Insignia White on lower surfaces. In Royal Navy service Bearcats would be in Dark Ocean Gray and Dark Slate Gray over Sky (I think). Let us say that A-bomb had not been developed yet, so Japan is still fighting. In this case US Navy would be hard pressed for CVEs for operation Olympic and beyond during 1946 and could not spare many of them for neither Atlantic duty nor to lease them to RN. Also, renewed Luftwaffe activity would make deployment of MAC ships in air defence role more likely. Let us assume that Swordfishes would still fly off converted tankers (which had rudimentary hangars) and that Bearcats, less susceptible to elements, would embark on grain ship conversions without hangars. In normal circumstances length of MAC ship's flight deck would be quite sufficient, but two or three fighters parked on a stern and additional overload tank to extend her loiter time would make use of RATO gear on Bearcat necessary, especially in usually harsh northern Atlantic weather. Of course, this is also too good an opportunity not to replace title ROYAL NAVY with MERCHANT NAVY or not to use some of colourful badges, previously found on MAC Swordfishes. In case of potent surface threat fleet carriers would have been deployed as indirect cover. Situation with the Royal Canadian Navy would not be much different from the real one, as 803 Sqn. Seafires F Mk.XV had been deployed on HMCS Warrior since 23th March 1946. Apart from early Griffon-engined Seafires RN would also use F Mk.XVII and F Mk.46 versions, along with Sea Furies F Mk.10. For North Atlantic colour scheme for these types would be the same as for Bearcats. However, given a degree of similarity between Fw 190 D and both Sea Furies and Bearcats one can always add yellow or white noses, stripes or some other form of quick recognition markings, used by one or by both sides. Cheers Jure

Thank you for that correction, Dave. Unfortunately I am still short of few parts, although now there are only two struts missing in my kit. Cheers Jure

Great link, Antoine. I also saw a photo (unfortunately, I cannot remember where) of ALAT H-21 with flexible 20-mm cannon, installed inside a cargo hold. I think it was Italeri, which also included decals for H-21 gunship in Algerie in one of its Flying Banana kits. Cheers Jure