Simon Cornes

Nice Spit. I have the Heller version and I am fond of that! Simon

Coventry?

Hi Dave, Thanks for the offer. I will dig out my e-mail trail and forward it on to you to have a look at. I was at Clifton Curios today (not your neck of the woods!) and we were only talking about 3-D printing and saying that modellers think/expect an aftermarket wheel to cost maybe £5 - based on what True Details charge for a set of 1/32 B-24 wheels for example and so there is a disconnect between what we expect and what a 3-D printer charges.Until that link is establish then 3-D printing is way to expensive. The only exception I can think of is GasPatch where their 3-D printed accessories are beautiful but still at a price, whilst albeit expensive, is affordable with a little stretch of the imagination, Best regards Simon

You could be right John. The likes of GasPatch do absolutely beautiful 3-D printed machine guns where you can see right through the cooling jackets. Absolutely amazing and relatively cheap for about £15 for a pair but I think it makes sense to fall back to 'proper' modelling when you want a 'one off' and you can see how to do it. Its not like I'm trying to make canopies, that is a different thing altogether! Simon

Thank you for the link. Now all I need is that Aeromaster decal sheet!

And they are lovely! Second set ordered!

That is really rather nice and proof that there's many an old kit that deserves a chance. Lovely!!

'Wolf Wishes, Wolf Flies' eh? Those are probably my favourite Hunter markings as well - from when I first saw them on the inside cover of Fighting Colours by MJF Bowyer. I have a couple of Italeri/Academy kits. Did you do a build thread anywhere? The fuselage vent issues are what I would like to get nailed - maybe I need to re-read my Hunter MDF? Great stuff Simon

Set ordered last night. Well done Ali!

This might have been mentioned already but Ali of Aerocraft has just released a set of bronze inserts for the undercarriage. £20 + £2 P & P in the UK available via his website. I should imagine demand wil be high! I'm expecting to wait 2-3 weeks before my set arrive but I'm in no rush! Now all we need to know is what Brassin are going to do! Simon

That's good to know. What about a baggage pod !

Great photos James. I thought the intention was to make XL500 airworthy again? A long time since I read that and I suppose these things take a lot of time (and even more money) but I see your photos were over 6 years ago. Any idea what the position with the airframe is now? Simon

Hi Linus, I didn't know that but I think what I have with the Alleycat kit will be more than adequate. I see that the chap on eBay is now up for offers on his AS/AEW Franken-gannet? I bet he is! Ah well, I suppose he's happy with it and see's what completed models sell for (or are advertised for)on eBay and thinks 'Why not?' If he sells a few at what appear to be much more 'reasonable' prices to Joe P then good luck to him but its better that we don't know!! Simon

Picked up mine today! OMG - huge!! 300g nose weight. Should that be 500? Definitely needs metal in the u/c legs! Will be interesting to see what the a/m come up with by way of 'essentials' !! And the box stacks neatly on top of the HKM B-17 and Airfix 1/24th Mossie! How convenient!! Simon

I have an Alleycat 1/72 AEW3 in the stash somewhere and I was thinking that might provide some good basic reference for the operators cockpit. I have an idea that the windows need to be more 'hemispherical' than as moulded but that's relatively easy compared to producing a replacement canopy. We are very lucky though. Got my January SAM today and there is a suggestion that there will be build article at some point - I think Colin 'Flying' Picket has one - but as the number of kits is limited then the number who will be interested will be even more limited - but it might stimulate a mainline manufacturer to produce an injection moulded kit? Not that I need one though!