PeterB

I could understand the dark version of "Vert" which under some circumstances would look almost black. Pete

Hi Guys, Am I correct in thinking Heller never released a kit of the Centre (Farman) F 222 or the apparently similar but not quite related Centre NC 223? Now there would be a kit I would seriously consider building - a bit like a Potez 540 on steroids, with 4 engines underslung - two tractor and two pusher, and it did bomb Germany and Italy by night several times! Pete

Interesting colour scheme - a Vichy French AF all black Amiot is one I have never come across before. Pete

Hi Chris, Heller seemed fond of unusual colours on the missiles for their Migs - red for these AA-2 and what they say is "S-9 Bronze" for the AA-1 on my Mig 19 although they look yellow on the box top! Perhaps they were test/training rounds? Pete

Hi Paul, I will of course be watching this build with great interest and shamelessly copy anything useful on my build - hope you don't mind! Pete

OK, I changed my mind and stuck the side pods and belly canoe and refuelling pod on before priming! I was thinking of using white primer on the undersides, but then I remembered how much trouble I had with my EA-6A earlier this year - painting white over white primer was a real pain as you could not see what you had actually painted! So anyway I had no white primer left and the Gull Grey will probably take 2 coats and the white at least 4 - some you win, some you lose as the saying goes. I need to press on with putting decs on my Thud now, so this will probably go quiet for a while. Cheers Pete

Managed to get most of the decs on. I am doing my usual trick for the white letters - "paint them on a green background, print on white dec paper, then touch up carefully with the base colour on the kit. I will have to straighten out the blue where the green from the A behind the fuselage cross overlaps slightly.and blend the "A"'s in a little on the wings. Some pics of Do-17Z show white lines around the joint between the wing centre section and the fuselage, and also a couple of short ones "fore and aft" inboard of the upper wing crosses so I will probably add those as well. I have modelled this on Werknummer 1160 which was built under license by Henschel and was a machine of III/KG 3, which was formed from KG 153 and so carried their playing card badges – Ace of Clubs for this machine from Staffel 7, Spades for Staffel 8 and Hearts for Staffel 9 I think. On August 28th 1940 it was one of the machines of KG 3 based at St. Trond that, together with other Do-17Z's from KG 2 took off to attack the RAF stations at Debden and Hornchurch. Reports say that it became separated from the escort and the rest of the formation in cloud. The RAF scrambled fighters to intercept including Defiants from 264 Squadron and one of them shot this bomber down – not sure which as 3 Defiants were lost later in a clash with the Bf 109 escort and it seems to have probably been one of them that did the deed! The Dornier had one engine out and the other damaged and was put down on the Goodwin Sands with the wounded pilot Feldwebel Willi Effmert and one other crew member surviving to become POW's. In 2008 it was found and a couple of years later it was recovered and is under preservation/restoration by the Battle of Britain Museum at Cosford. I will add the badges once the glazing is on, given how good Clearfix is at dissolving decs. Better get the cockpit frames and guns painted I guess. Cheers Pete

Hi you two, No more projects planned at the moment but I dare say my wife will think of something given half a chance. As to the cats, they still look like this. just filled out a bit and got even more muscular. Off to the left of the above pic is a gap in the garden fence caused by storm damage, Yesterday, my wife was bending down picking some raspberries by the gap when the less fit of the two decided to jump from the end of the fence onto the shed roof over the top of her! It is 8ft from a standing start on a 2" wide fence strut and he only just made it - ending up hanging from the roof edge by his claws - I suspect the other one would have made it clean on to the roof as he is one h*ll of a jumper, as the local wild life has found out to its cost! Still, the rats are staying in the back alley these days - have not seen a live one in the garden for over a year. My daughter's description of them as "mini panthers" is about right! Cheers Pete

My read of the Mushroom book is that early F-4 had the bracing, but medium and most of the late production ones did not, and then the very late ones once more had it - no idea why they went back to it but maybe they found the internal bracing still was not strong enough? The Mushroom book is pretty good, with a lot of drawings, including "3-D", cockpit detail and colour schemes so if there is anything else you need to know please feel free to ask. I cannot guarantee all that they say is correct but they are usually pretty good. Later, They also say that the first batch of F-4 produced in spring and summer 1941 were the last with the external reinforcement until a batch of F-4 and F-4/trop assembled by Erma in late 41, which entered service spring and summer 1942, and had the reinforcements again. Don't know if that helps. Maybe it is to do with who actually manufactured them as WNF only stopped using the "E" type rectangular intakes in Apring 1941 it seems. Mushroom list 5 manufacturers, Arado Rostock, Messerschmitt Regensburg, WNF Wiener Neustadt, Erla Leipzig, and AGO Magdeburg and have a table showing who produced which serial numbers. Cheers Pete

Hi Michael, Final comment as it seems this is a little more complicated than I thought. According to the Mushroom Publications book by Robert Michulec, when the braced tail of the E was replaced by a cantilever tail on the F, the stress calculations were slightly wrong resulting in the tail joint to the fuselage at frame 9 being too weak and so after a few accidents external braces were fitted. These worked and were not replaced until the end of summer 1941 when work on the G model introduced internal bracing and this was transferred to mid and late production F versions. However, very late production F apparently reintroduced the external bracing! The first F-4 began to leave the production line in May 1941 with the DB 601N replaced by the DB 601E and the MG151/15 mm cannon replaced by the MG151/20. There seem to have been very few F-2/trop machines, mainly recce versions, and the F-4/trop was the main version though there are suggestions of field modification using filters from E-7/trop planes on F-2. The F-4Z and F-4Z/trop with GM1 boost began to appear in autumn 1941 - as well as the supercharger filter and attachments for the canopy sunshade, these also had a slightly deeper oil cooler under the nose it seems. Incidentally the book shows a drawing of an F-1 produced at the WNF factory under sub-contract with a square section intake, as apparently did the first few F-2 from there, but the others all have a round one! Cheers Pete

Hi again, Found the book and it seems some earlier F-4 did have the strengthening. It was not a complete row of fishplates as on the Typhoon, just a couple of "straps" on both sides. My Italeri F-2/F-4 kits do have them! Cheers Pete

Hi Richard, Back in around 1980 I aquired a Heller catalogue which has this bus on the front cover - always thought it looked impressive and will watch your build with great interest. Good luck! Pete

Hi Pat, Pre-war they were certainly "Chocolat", but I am sure I have seen a pic showing that a few did get the full 4 or even 5 tone camo scheme in the war if you want something different - I seem to remember you doing a Bloch 152 in a previous GB which would have used most of the same colours. Pete

Hi Michael, I will have to dig out some books to check but I seem to recall that early F's had a problem with vibration, bit like the Typhoon, and ended up having strengthening plates around the rear fuselage as a temporary cure before using thicker skinning on later models. I think that at one stage it was thought to be due to the tailplane bracing struts having been dispensed with compared with the E. As I don't have the Heller kit I don't know if it has the "fishplates" or not - my old Frog F does not and I can't remember if my Italeri one has them or not. If this kit has them I suspect it must be an F-1 or F-2. Don't think the F-4 had them but could be wrong. I will get back to you if I find the book I think it is in. Pete

Hi Dave, After reading your recommendation in an earlier GB I bought some AA Extreme paints and have yet to use them - thought I would try them on my Farmer! I have their Aluminium, Polished Aluminium and Dural. Pete

Thanks Dave, As it happens I have a copy of Scale Aircrfat Modelling that did a main artical on the PAF complete with decs - stickers to you. Unfortunately I seem to remember they were all NMF as well- must look it out and check. However I doubt they used the RS-2-U aka Nato code name AA 1 Alkali missiles and APU-4 rails provided in the kit - probably used AIM-9 Sidewinders instead! Cheers Pete

Hi Rich, Watch out that you don't give yourself a hernia lifting it if you ever find one - you would have to change your name to @rupturedrich😁! Pete

Didn't realize the list was open yet Wez - bit earlier than usual? Only have 3 planes Dave plus maybe an AMX 30/105 tank issued in 1976 so I guess it would be eligible, though my boxing is from this century - shifted the other 3 earlier this year in the Nordic GB. Cheers Pete

Last build and smallest. Originally released in 1979 as 282, mine is a later Humbrol rebox 80282. It's a Spitfire - can't go wrong (famous last words)! It certainly will not be silver. Pete

I first saw this in the window of what was then James & Lendon (now just Lendons) in Cardiff in 1979, together with the Lansen. I built the Lansen earlier this year so now I will build the MIg. Released in 1973 ref 251, this is a slightly newer boxing with the same ref. I am not very good with NMF so this should be interesting. Pete

Dave will be pleased - another Mirage IV, original ref 351 in 1979, this 1996 boxing is 80351. The first of only 3 Heller kits in my stash that will be eligible, I think I first came across this plane in a publication called "RAF Flying Review" back in the late 1960's. No longer have it but I rmember the article suggested it was built for a one way trip, not like some said of the British "V Force" because there would be no base to come back to, but because it did not have the range for a round trip. That may have been true initially, but then they got In Flight Refuelling - more later once I start. Pete

As I suspected the back end of the underside is not up to Hasegawa's current standard. The groove at the rear is for the arrestor hook, though the hole at the back of it is a bit untidy - probably hidden by the hook though with any luck but I will try filling it with a bit of my very thin flexible card. The triangular door in front of that is a mess! It is the cover on the tail bumper which came down automatically when the wheels were lowered. Initially it then stayed down permanently until the wheels were next retracted but as it caused problems catching on wires it was fitted with a timer and went back up again after a while. Not only is the kit part a poor fit, but there was a gaping hole at the narrow end which should have been filled by a single small solid wheel at the end of the bumper but there is no wheel nor any form of roof for the hole, so I have fitted one from white card. I will knock up a "half" wheel and mount it in there at some point, probably after the main painting is done! I will leave the engines off initially as it will make it a darned sight easier to paint them, and likewise the "blisters" and other bumps, so all I need to do now is fill and sand down the joints, wash it and give it a blast of primer - pity my can of white has run out! I might see if I can get another. Ok, not the best comparison, but I thought this might give you an idea of the size. 9ft longer than the DC-3 and if the wings were straight not swept the span would be about the same. That's the ancient Airfix Dak built just after it first came out. Right, I will now switch back to the BoB GB as I took some time off and concentrated on this one - Greg complaned my Do-17Z-2 was going too fast!. Cheers Pete

Hi Craig, The glazing is pretty big - too big probably according to the review in Naval Fighters unless Hasegawa have modified it. Oh, well, not to worry. The fit is pretty good as you would expect but unusually for Hasegawa they have thrown a short shot on the tip of the Port stabiliser which was so thin it broke off - I have grafted a replacement on - it is the white bit in the pic. Hopefully everything else is OK thogh I suspect there is a problem with the tail bumper which is slightly undersize and missing the wheel! It will need a touch of filler and some sanding and rescribing but the joints are not too bad so far, particularly given the length of the fuselage with lots of cut-outs underneath and very few locating pins. One thing that confused me initially is the box art - it shows what looks like a pylon with a pod on it angled out from the Starboard underside, which is not in the kit. Actually, I found exactly the same pic in my book and it says that the Starboard bomb door is open for access, and the pod is mounted on that! Pete

Ok, I have made a start but to put things in context here is a bit more on the design first. Ed Heinemann, designer at Douglas' El Segundo Division was concerned about the steady escalation of Navy plane weights that the USN seemed prepared to accept and in his design of the A-4 Skyhawk in the early 1950's he was able to produce a plane which would do all that the Navy asked for which only weighed half as much as their estimates. However, back in 1948, he decided that the estimates for a nuclear jet bomber of 130,000lb to even 200,000lb to carry a 10000lb bomb with a 1500 mile range were way over the top. He calculated that existing carriers could just about manage a plane weighing 68000lb with a bit of local strengthening to take the shock of landing, and started working on such a design. After many different variations he came up with a high wing twin jet that was to become the A-3 Skywarrior. Like a number of other early US jets such as the Demon, it nearly became a victim of the Westinghouse J40 engine fiasco, but having engines mounted in pods under the wings meant that it was relatively easy to switch to another engine once the shortcomings of the J40 became apparent. Perhaps inevitably, this was an exercise in keeping the weight down whilst producing a plane that would carry the current model heavy atomic bomb (they soon became a lot lighter), together with enough fuel to provide the required range, and so a number of compromises had to be made, one of which involved the means of escape in an emergency. Naval Fighters Vol. 45 says that originally it was planned that all 3 seats would face forward and Heinemann considered providing ejection seats, but decided against for 3 reasons. Firstly weight – the seats plus the jettisonable canopy would add at least 550lb. Secondly, having the rear seat facing forwards would mean moving the rear bulkhead back and reducing the size of the fuselage fuel cell behind it, thus shortening range, and finally, existing ejection seats had a bad track record at the time with at least half the crew who used them suffering major back injuries. As a result the seat ended up facing the rear and the normal crew entry hatch behind it was modified so that it could be turned into a escape slide by firing explosive charges driving pistons. The slide faced the rear and acted as a windbreak. So here is Hasegawa's cockpit! Simple but adequate and at least they provide reasonable info on which way round the decs go, unlike Trumpeter. You can just about see the "spectacle" type wheel mounted direct on the IP - bit like the Cessna I had a flying lesson in - pull it out to climb, push it in to dive and turn it to bank! And this is what it is like in the fuselage with the nose wheel bay added. Hasegawa say to add 5g in the nose so I have - and also a further 2g in the other side for safety. The first cut-out in the fuselage bottom after the wheel well is for the entry hatch/exit chute, and the one behind it is for the baffle lowered when bombing to stop the bomb "hanging up" and just floating around in the bomb bay - the Valiant had the same problem. Although it is a big plane (though about the same length as my F-105G), there are actually not a lot of parts. The kit seems to be that of the KA-3B with an extra sprue of aerials etc. As I mentioned earlier Hasegawa have released this as a late bomber, early bomber, tanker, basic EW version and this EW/Tanker. I was thinking of converting it to a bomber at one stage and even bought a resin tail with guns in, but then realised that for the early version I would also have to buy a replacement nose and decs, so that is why it has been sitting around for several years. This GB finally gave me an excuse to build it. If anybody wants the resin tail send me a PM. I don't imagine construction will take all that long, but we will see. Cheers Pete

Just got back from having my Flu jab for geriatrics - apparently the mix has a bite this year so I am expecting my arm to swell up and ache - perfect when you are trying to do fiddly work on a kit! With that in mind I have stuck on the tiny lights Trumpeter provide for under the cockpit and on the bottom of the tail. They are no more than 1mm in diameter and not much longer, but I managed, though I don't expect they will stay on long - glued with a drop of Clearfix and then a coat of neat varnish. Funny thing is that they don't provide the same lights in their 1/32 kit, so you have to wonder why they bothered in the 1/72 version? I have also stuck on the light on the spine and the clear window for the strike camera under the nose, and finished painting the windscreen and canopies - they look passable from a distance but I will not be taking any close ups - the yellow line is a bit thick in places! The bit over the top of the windscreen is actually the top of the tail on the EKA-3A, not this kit! So, next step is to start putting decs on before my arm stiffens up. The nose probe in the kit is a bit feeble so I have ordered a Master replacement - I already have one on my old D version and it is way better. Together with the Hasegawa pylons for the Shrikes that will be the only non kit parts used. More in a day or two I expect. Pete