Simon Cornes

I have now got all the information I need regarding the rear gunsight and periscope, care of the Navy Wings Charity that now looks after all the former RNHF aircraft and the Sea Vixen, to name but a few. In fact they sent me some copies of one of the official publications which I have scanned to pdf but I don't think I can upload a pdf into this thread? If I can please tell me how because I think this information explains a lot that does not appear in Paul Fisher's otherwise excellent instruction sheet. If anyone wants a copy of the pdf then please PM me with your e-mail address and I will be happy to forward it,

Very odd. I received mine, I got an e-mail from Artie to say it had been posted and a tracking number and I tracked it to the Spanish postal hub at Madrid where it sat for several days due to action by the postal workers in Spain but a few days later it turned up. Great kit albeit with resin main gear which is to thin - okay if you have a Falcon kit as well with metal gear but that's my only criticism. Very odd that you are having problems but I appreciate that you can only speak as you find.

Mike that is a great report, thank you! If SA produce more products that interest me then I will definitely buy from them again. Simon

A very good point, there are probably enough happy BM members who could support Scratch if 20 units is workable! It might allow Juan and Artie to continue - just supplying BM but with a growing portfolio. The question is 'What next ? And How many?'

I'm very sad that Artie and Juan have decided to call it a day for the time being. From my point of view, I have bought 3 kits from them, I took a chance with the first order but I got a Scimitar out of it so my faith in them was justified, so I bought a second Scimitar and a Swift. From my point of view it all worked very well at a 'modeller to modeller' level but from my own experience I know that the material are not cheap (cheap materials = cheap and nasty results) and this is compounded because it has to come from Spain if its not available in the Canary's. Add to that, the guys do this for 'fun' at the weekend, after work and families receive the correct priority and its easy to see how timescales can slip. But I accept that because the patience justifies the result - it's worth it and I know it is! Its therefore sad that individuals - and I'm sure it's only a few - expect 'everything, now'. Well thats not going to happen is it? If Artie and Juan are happy to continue making models for their existing customer base then that might be the best result -and indeed that is what is going to happen until the moulds give up the ghost as I understand it. In the future, when they may have more time, maybe they can dip their feet into the 'hell' that seems to be eBay. As has been said, it doesn't really work very well for those who expect next day service and can't be bothered to read the tends and conditions. It must be very worrying if you are in Artie and Juan's shoes. If it was me I'd say " Do you know what, they can all whistle" Or something less polite! I think the majority are very much on Artie and Juan's side here! Simon

I have answered my question. The rear seat throttle box is also mounted on the left hand cockpit wall. I have seen cockpit drawings in the 'cut down' Modellers Data File on the Sea fury and now I can understand what I ma looking at and believe that Paul Fisher rather cheated with his T.20 rear cockpit by just fitting cut back front side panels. I now know that, apart from an elevator trim wheel and aforsaid throttle box, the rear cockpit was fairly typically bare! But now I have a new question. Does anyone know how the periscope actually worked? I assume that the rear gunsight is somehow modified to 'see' the image displayed on the front gun sight? Answers on a post card please! Thanks Simon

This is indeed very sad and I know that Artie has his father to work about and its only 2 or 3 guys making these kits when they are all available to help that is. I see that Artie says they are still prepared to make the kits they have done already - by arrangement that is but, from their point of view, making resin kits for demanding modellers must be very trying at times, especially if they do this for 'fun'. Having said that Artie is an honourable chap and has never let us down so I imagine that anything ordered and paid for will eventually turn up but we have to give Artie some space to deal with the non-modelling side of his life Simon

Guys, I'm building a Fisher T.20 without Pauls' instructions. Can anyone tell me about the rear cockpit throttle box please? I know the front one is in the 'normal' position on the left sidewall but I have a build article showing the rear cockpit throttle fitted to the left side panel. As the front and rear side panels are almost identical I think thats wrong - but I don't have a photo!! Help!!

Thats great Ian. Off I go to Halfords! I have a can of another Halfords yellow but it looks a bit too lemony for me and that Maggie certainly looks spot on!

Thanks Julien. I've had a look and at my copy of From the Cockpit No 12 and there is a photo on the back cover of the book which shows the T.20 prototype, VX818, and I can now se two bulges in each wing but only a gun port in front of the outside bay. You have ti be very careful with these photos though because the T.20 was supposed to have no hook and a fixed tailwheel yet WG655 has tailwheel doors and the tailwheel retracts? So explain that? !! Thank you anyway. I am also weighing up the colour of the main gear bay - silver? I think I'll go for that but then again, when it comes to flaps and the interior of the wing fold - as a restored example - Duxford's seems to a chromate shade. I would have expected everything to be airframe silver?

Thank you!

Can anyone suggest a close match in Halfords spray cans please? Thanks

Almost succeeded but not quite! Can anyone help? Also, this is a T.20 so only two guns. Does anyone know if it retained the twin bulges on the wing access panels? I haven't found a photo yet!

Thanks for the replies. About 6 or 7 years go I did actually buy spares from Hasegawa directly. I wanted scimitar propellor blades to convert a 1/72nd Hawkeye. I got them. They cost a small fortune and took quite a few weeks to appear but were beautifully packed. I am wondering if the likes of Hobby Link Japan or Lucky Model in Hong Kong might help? Just put a request into HLJ an, afterwards, discover that they don't accept requests for parts, only if your kit has missing bits. My experience with Eduard hasn't been great recently. By that I mean that I e-mailed them in October last year to see if I could buy 3 or 4 of the decal sheet for their Harrier GR7. I wanted them for stencils in conversions of Monogram AV-8B kits. To date I haven't received a reply!! It's possible that they might help but I suspect that they just get 'X' hundred bags of sprues from Hasegawa and then box them and thats that so they may not be keen to break up a kit. Its worth a go though. I have a T10/12 conversion that I could use but I'm pretty sure that that uses the kit windscreen so I still need that 'Y' sprue!

Does anyone have a set of instructions for the FisherT.20 they could scan and e-mail to me? Thank you Simon