rossm

Aces High gives Bader's 222 Sqdn Spitfire as P9443 for his one and one-third victories on 1st June - no code letter given No ID given for Crowley-Milling's Hurricane(s) I'll keep looking, Ross

1 £7 2 £10-12 3 £10 4 £12-15 5 £10-12 6 £15-20 Personally I'd go for the basic one every time, Ross

Hi Jerry, I seem to have lost your email address - remind me and I'll send you a scan of the article, Cheers, Ross

The Ducimus Camouflage and Markings series touches on this, especially for the Hurricane and Havoc and to a lesser extent the Blenheim. The NIVO seems to have been one of a number of experiments, none of which are mentioned as seeing actual service, in fact the impression I get is that the squadrons would have used standard nightfighter schemes and all the oddities were trial aircraft although I know some squadrons were involved in the trials (especially Havoc squadrons ?). Ross

Here is my take on Coastal Command camouflage - it may help and any constructive comments are welcome, Ross

A real cracker ! Triple well done (scratchbuild, biplane, camo scheme) !

There was an article in an old IPMS magazine which I have scanned for someone. PM me an email address and I'll forward it to you, Ross

Also I reckon I stand a chance of building the Academy/Minicraft kit, looking at the Hasegawa one with its multiple transparent nose parts I just could not see how I would build it without horrific problems with alignment and join lines. The first magazine review I saw certainly had had these problems 'cos there was a huge step where the nose joined. As a result I started my Academy/Pavla GR.V and found the separate nose on the Academy kit (only 2 solid parts to worry about) easily went on. I'm currently stopped for motivational reasons (I like starting projects but not finishing them), even after putting pushrods onto the Quickboost engines I got for it which must be the only tedious bit, Ross

I've got a Revell 1/72 F-4F and the MA World Airpower Update sheet with the overall grey scheme waiting for some motivation ! Ross

There's a couple of photos in 'Hurricane Squadrons in Focus'. PM me for a scan, Ross

I have one with the Airwaves label on the box - this range was made by E.D. Models and taken over by Hannants on the closure of the former. Ross

According to the Air Britain serials books HK822 was G-AFKJ and was purchased in the USA and presented to the RAF and served with SRF and 1 AAU before crashing on landing and sinking 15m N of Benghazi 9.12.42. MV993 went to the Royal Navy, 24 Sqdn is not mentioned. However MV993 is listed as serving with 24 Sqdn in Alan Lake's Flying Units of the RAF and other books have references to a Goose (unidentified) in 24 Sqdn. Arthur Pearcey's book on Lend Lease aircraft also has HK822 as G-AFKJ. Bit of a muddle really - needs some definitive unpicking ! Ross

Hmm, I thought this would be easy as they were used at Harrowbeer but I only have a small and unclear photo of one in a dispersal bay there in the Airfield Focus. However I did find (in another book on Harrowbeer) a photo of a Sea Otter from the Station Flight at Ayr. This is a big photo and you can see the code (which is how I identified the unit) but not the serial which I cannot yet identify by other means either. Send me an email address by PM and I'll send you a scan, Ross

I would have thought the Blenheim would have been more of an equivalent, I can't see a Bermuda having a message hook ! Ross

You could try contacting Aeroclub to see if they have any parts left over from the original run ? ross

The tailwheel is not quite as simple as EN vs MB serials - see MB794 entry on This Website Also interesting is the note "possibly locally modifed for oblique photography" for EN234. Ross

Morgan and Shacklady (Spitfire The History) do not give full details for production MkXIIs but they do say that it was one of the first Spitfires to have a flush riveted fuselage. On the prototype they say tropical MkV radiator and oil cooler were used and found to be satisfactory for temperate conditions and the wing was a VC wing with narrow cannon bulges. They also say it would have been dificult to convert mkV airframes because of different height and width requirements for the engine mounting. That's about all I could get from that source, Ross

ebay is a valuable tool for me when it comes to getting kits (and books) but I'm careful not to bid more than a kit would cost if it was reissued and I always check the seller's feedback. Even so I have had a couple of supposedly new kits that had been part built (and badly) but only one seller who did not offer a refund and disappeared without trace. The other problem is it's easy to fall into temptation and buy kits you perhaps wouldn't have picked off a shelf in a real shop ! Ross

It's cheaper than the PJ one but is it accurate ?

A real Christmas cracker ! Superb.

For histories of Mk.XII Spitfires go to This Website and look at the options in the 41 Squadron Aircraft Histories menu - NB 91 Sqdn is covered in that use of the aircraft listed is noted. Also some interesting photos on the picture gallery on the site, I like this one !

Try ebay here For decals for the Navy version try Here (scroll down to SM72-168 and scroll to the bottom for a link to Ordering Information). According to the de Havilland Putnam the RN machines were ex-civil Heron II variants, as is the Airfix kit. I've no information on the accuracy of the kit. Ross

Reviving this thread about the merits or otherwise of some kits I thought the wings of the Heller/SMER kit were a bit too tapered, hard to check now mine is built wheels down. Also, in the course of building a Magna Henley I had a search through my Hurricane kits to see if I could find a donor for some main undercarriage parts. All kits seem to be different ! Particularly in the diameter and thickness of the wheels but also in the door shape. Ended up refining the Magna parts. Ross

Remember you could have either wide (like B wing) or narrow (normal for C wing) cannon bulges on the upperwing. I'm sure I remember Edgar posting exactly when they changed, Ross

Jim, No photo (yet) but a drawing which seems to show the single exhaust occupies pretty much the area where this panel was on the later marks, Cheers, Ross