fishplanebeer

The latest issue of Airfix magazine (July) has an article on the new release and infers it will be with us soon so worth a gander as it also has some sprue shots. Bomb bay doors are as per the TT.35 they scanned and not for a B XVI but otherwise looks good. Regards Colin.

The inference from the article is that the kit will be with us very soon so I decided to share as it firms up on/answers some of the comments and suspicions raised when the kit was first highlighted in rumourmonger. I'm not sure what differences there are between a B IX and the XVI other than the blown canopy so as the kit also has side blisters as well the conversion should hopefully be quite straightforward, always assuming the B IX had blisters and not flat panels? Regards Colin.

Just to add that unfortunately I don't possess any drawings/diagrams of the Mosquito at the moment so all that I can add is that bulged bomb bay doors were fitted from the 13th production aircraft onwards for the BXVI and that this type was essentially a presurised version of the earlier B IX. Oh, and the PR XVI was essentially a B XVI but fitted with 3 camera points and extra fuel tanks in the bomb bay. A drawing/picture would say a thousand words I know but sadly this is all the information I have at present. Regards Colin.

To be honest all I have to go on is the article in the Airfix magazine which highlighted the fact that the bomb doors were an error on their part (but easily rectified they say), and that in the earlier post on this subject there was a suspicion that Airfix would indeed make this error as they'd based the kit on a scan of the TT.35. It seems this earlier suspicion have proven to be correct which is a pity but obviously at some point after the moulds had been done Airfix became aware of this oversight hence the apology of sorts in the article. Although I will be buying the kit I'm absolutely no expert on the Mosquito so can't say what the differences were/are between the TT.35 bomb bay and the XVI version but I'm sure there are folks out there who will be able to help in this regard. The choice of the Mosquito, particularly a two stage merlin version, is to be commended but I'm amazed that such a basic error could have been made by Airfix given the research that you would hope had been done into the type. After all it's highly probable that an operational bomber version would have had a different configuration to that of a target tug! Regards Colin.

As was suspected when this new kit was the basis of an earlier post according to the latest issue of the Airfix magazine (July) the bomb doors are based on those of the TT35 which they scanned in order to produce the kit. As such the bomb doors will not be correct for the BXVI and will need some attention to correct. On the plus side the article confirms the presence of both 'blown and 'blister' canopy sides plus four 500lb bombs. The other good news is that it sounds from the article that the kit is due very soon. Regards Colin.

Re' the step in the canopy I have the Sword Seafires and they are the same in that it is very small and not true to scale but as I say it can easily be rectified by the final paint job so is not an issue or a reason for not buying what seems to be a very good kit. Regards Colin.

Kit looks good and at £12.99 is good value too but shipping at almost £8 seems steep. There again if you are after this particular Spit then this probably won't put you off as it's a lot simpler than having to modify an existing kit. However as with all Sword Spitfires I've seen there is no step between the main canopy hood and the rear canopy section although this can be quite easily overpainted to achieve the required effect. As I already have a few Spits and Seafires to get to I'll be passing on this one but it would be a nice addition to anyone's collection. Regards Colin.

Just noticed that on this particular machine the red ring goes all the way round and over the engine cowling where as in all the other photos and artwork I've seen it seems to stop at the gun troughs so there was clearly some variation in how it was applied. Regards Colin.

I'm no expert on this so I will defer to Graham and others but in the Luftwaffe Colours book on the Jagdwaffe 'Battle of Britain- Phase One' it does give an insight as to how the red ring came about. Apparently around early August Goering ordered that that the 'Pik As' badge be replaced with the red ring and that the Geschwader be known as 'Red Ring' with a revised/updated 'Pik As' badge then reappearing again from early October. The first recorded instance of a Bf109E carrying the red ring was on 16th August when Fw Christian Hansen force landed at Godshill on the Isle of Wight. Regards Colin.

Triumph is also a German company as well. Apparently at the outbreak of WW2 the company split (for obvious reasons) into Triumph Germany and Triumph UK. According to Combat Dealers the German Triumph made bicycle saddles, amongst other things, for the German war effort. Regards Colin.

Like RL I have no technical input to make but whole heartedly agree with Jamie that it is far more vital that the colour combines and sits well with the others that are also applied as this is what will make or break the colour scheme. That's why I stick with Colourcoats paints as they create the desired overall effect and I'm not too concerned about spectrometer readings and the like as this seems to be an awful amount of detail and unlikely to ever result in a consensus of opinion. In addition when you take into account the desired scale effect of the paint, such as when using RLM66 for Luftwaffe cockpit interiors (I use RLM74 instead to create the scale effect in 72nd scale) then exact matches to a given original source sort of becomes questionable IMHO. Regards Colin.

Jamie's guide is the one he's published on the Sovereign web site as well so I'm now very happy to go with this. Wasn't at all sure about the correct colour for the fuselage behind the rear windows but now sorted as well. Sounds like the build will be good, a complete contrast to the Italeri Dornier Do217E I'm building at present which is a bit of a 'devil' with poor fit and alignment issues everywhere. Many thanks. Regards Colin.

I'm just about to start my Eduard 72nd scale F-3 Hellcat but not sure about the correct interior colours as the builds in the MDF Hellcat guide vary in this respect. The cockpit I'm assuming is Interior Green (or a variation on this theme) but not sure about the interior of the cowling and the fuselage behind the cockpit, and I'm also assuming that the wheel wells and interior for the tail wheel would be the under surface colour which in this case will be insignia white. I have a new tin of Colourcoats Chromate Yellow which I'm keen to use but obviously not if this would be the wrong colour for any part of this particular aircraft which will be finished in the standard 4 colour scheme. The guide on the Sovereign web site calls for light grey for the interior apart from the cockpit so I plan to go with this unless this would be wide of the mark. Regards Colin.

Another vote for Colourcoats as they spray beautifully and I now use them all the time, except when they are out of stock in which case I substitute Xtracolor instead. I'm sure some one could send you a tin of Colourcoats if they have a spare or could add it to an order on your behalf. I'd be happy to do this but have only recently bought my next batch so it will be a while before I need to order from them again. Regards Colin.

For my recent A6M2 Zero I used the Colourcoats Zero Grey/ACJ16 as this is based upon Nick Millman's research and looks spot on for early MItsubishi built Zeros. although admittedly mine was a PH example so not sure if this would be correct for earlier examples. Regards Colin.

As it seems no particular set of plans is 100% accurate then to paraphrase a well used quote 'if it looks right it probably is' which certainly works for me. I have three of the Special Hobby Bf109E's to build and presumably they would have used plans every bit as good if not better than the ones I have access to so unless something is glaringly off I'm happy to go with them. That said I do have the plans by J D Carrick from the old Aircraft Archive Volume 1 publication and which were also reproduced in Scale Modeller for their BoB series back in 1980 just in case. Regards Colin.

Have both the E-4 and E-3 and they are quite superb in every way, just waiting for the E-1 due this year. There is/was some criticism about the canopy being too wide however this seems to have resulted from the fuselage being squeezed/clamped together too tightly to remove the small gap that exists where the rear bulkhead fits into the fuselage. If this is left 'as is' and a small amount of filler added to close the gap then the canopy fit is spot on. Regards Colin.

Is this the same one marketed by Trumpeter that I've recently bought as apart from the logo it looks identical? Regards Colin.

I've ordered some 'Daco' decal solution (strong) so will confirm how it goes as I've seen others use it on one of the builds on the forum. That said I ordered it 2 weeks ago and still nothing has arrived plus no response to my e-mails so not 100% I will ever receive it. It's shipped from Belgium and shipping is high at 11 Euros! If it fails to arrive then will definitely invest in this instead as I have some quite thick Peddinghaus decals (Luftwaffe unit badges) that I need to apply to my Do217E and He111H-8 at some point. By the way Peddinghaus do quite a good range of Luftwaffe unit badges for both bombers and fighters and they are quite reasonable price wise as well even if they are a little thick. Regards Colin.

Many thanks for the advice, yet another Humbrol product consigned to the bin along with their bottle of acrylic matt varnish which was truly awful as well - do Humbrol actually make anything that can be trusted I wonder? I do have some Galeria varnish which works really well but was just hoping to use an aerosol for quickness and convenience however this has turned out to be a false economy as I've now had to remove all the original paint and spray again with my Colourcoats enamel. Thanks again. Regards Colin.

Having painted the interior of my Do217E using Colourcoats enamels I decided to use a Humbrol spray can of acrylic varnish to seal it prior to applying an oil wash - big mistake! The spray made the paint bubble and lift, completely ruining all my hard work, so has anyone else had a similar event using this stuff? Just can't see how a supposed acrylic varnish can have such an effect so would welcome any views/comments. Regards Colin.

I'm attempting to best guess the correct night colour scheme for my He111H-8 project based upon the following photo (the front of the aircraft was destroyed) so would welcome suggestions as from the pic the scheme does not conform to that seen in any/all photos I've been able to find of KG55 Heinkels of the 1941 period. The black does not extend to the fin/rudder as a solid colour and similarly does not appear to extend part way up the fuselage, both just having black paint daubed over them in an irregular patter. Also the crash report confirmed the undersurfaces to be lamp black but based upon another KG aircraft I've been able to trace it would probably be hastily daubed on as well and not a complete respray. Of interest is the 'stinger' mg in the tail which is just visible in the photo. Regards Colin.

I have pics of F4's with squared off wheel wells so doing an F4 with the kit would be fine but you'd need the larger super charger intake, although in this scale it isn't that noticeable. Regards Colin

I built it as an F-4/Trop with the larger supercharger intake from Quickboost plus filter and it looked fine but as to how it compares with a G-2 I'm not sure, although AZ do the G-2 so this may be worth a try instead. On the plus side the kit went together really well and it's great value although the canopy is a little too long so needs some fettling. Regards Colin.

Can anyone confirm whether the guns in a Dornier 217E, principally the nose gun and dorsal turret were fed by belts or did they have the usual ammo drums? I have some internal pics of the aircraft which clearly show the ventral gun with drums but nothing clearly showing the other positions unfortunately, just the spent ammo canvas tubes. Also, as the nose position could carry either a flexible mg or 20mm canon depending upon mission requirements, would the same feed type apply to both weapons or would the semi-flexible 20mm canon have drums as in the Bf110? Just a final question, I plan to use lead wire to simulate the canvas spent ammo tubes so can these be safely secured to the guns using CA or should I use a different type of adhesive such as expoxy resin instead (have never used lead wire in this way before). Regards Colin.