PaulR

Cheers for all the comments, chaps! Paul

Looks fab! The definitive Battle of Britain hurricane squadron! Paul

Very cool! Paul

Hi all, As the 18/8/1940 is sometimes considered the Hardest Day of the battle, I thought I'd note the fact 70 years on. This is a link to my Spitfire build from the Battle of Britain group build forum - have a look, if you like! Paul

Whoops - should have posted this direct to here! Also should have noted the request not to comment on peoples' work in the finished gallery - sorry Mods! Anyway, pictures . . . Paul

Hi all, well, finished Brian Lane's spitfire. Added the final details, a couple of coats of Vallejo's matt varnish - love this stuff by the way - peeled back the canopy masking and there you go! Have thoroughly enoyed this, my first group build. Have found having to post pictures has kept the build going, and has stopped me from getting diverted onto other kits - am I the only one to have at least 8 kits in progress?!? Anyway, am off to get pictures of my second entry for this group build, an Italeri Bf-110 . . . Enjoy, what it's worth. Paul

Yes it does. Better than the Airfix, not as sharp as the Hasegawa, but once painted, highlighted and covered by the seat, canopy etc you wouldn't really know one way or the other! Paul

Fab pictures Antoine - thanks for the link. Tell me, are the 2000Ns being retired, or are the airframes from this squadron being redistributed? Cheers, Paul

Hi all, have been a tad busy with kids over the last few days, but here is an update on my Griffin build. I have got the main fuselage and wings together, and added an Italeri Hawk gunpack - the red bit! The radome has been improved with a stretched sprue pitot, primed and painted medium sea grey to contrast against the hemp/light aircraft grey main scheme. You can also see where I have sawn off the rather rubbish Italeri afterburner can from the retaining ring and replaced it with a Hasegawa 'can. It happens to be a perfect fit! Off scene, I have dipped the canopy in future, and have managed to find a pair of resin Mk10 ejector seats, so will get these painted and installed asap. Then I can get to the fun bit - painting, decalling and finishing off the back story! Paul

Hi all, am on a Battle of Britain theme at the moment to tie in with the 70th anniversary, and here is part 1 of that effort. This is the 1/48th Pegasus Hurricane, which despite its origins as a snap together starter kit is absolutely fantastic. Better detailed than the Airfix Hurricane, and cheaper, less finicky and in some respects more accurate than the Hasegawa especially in the depiction of the fuselage ribbing and nose curves, this is now my hurricane of choice. Given my main interest is colour schemes and markings, this simple, cheap and accurate kit allows me to knock them out at a rare rate, and as a sheer piece of modelling fun - unbeatable! Go try it! Anyway, the subject matter is the 249sqn Hurricane piloted by Flt Lt J.Nicolson on the morning of August 16th 1940 70 years ago. He took off from Boscombe down with his flight, and were bounced by Bf-110s who shot all three Hurricanes in short order. Nicolson's plane was set on fire, but as the German plane overshot, Nicolson, then in the process of baling out, dropped back into the cockpit and shot the Messerschmitt down! He then baled out. He suffered extensive burns to his hands and lower face, but made a good recovery and went on to command squadrons in other theatres of the war. He was unfortunately killed in a Liberator late on in the war, but prior to that was awared the VC for his actions on August 16th - the only fighter command pilot to do so, if I have got my facts straight. My model shows his plane of that morning. My information comes from a Neil Robinson articale in Scale Aircraft Modelling August 2000, so many thanks to him for the inspiration and back story. Model is OOB, with wine foil seat belts but with Xtradecal codes and markings from spares box. Xtracrylic paints used throughout. Any comments appreciated! Paul

Yep, count me in! I have recently bought the Malta Spitfire Aces Osprey book and was contemplating a Spitfire MkV trop in any case. This would be suitable motivation! Paul

Dave, that's a huge help! How on earth do you find such detailed info? Inquiring minds want to know! Paul

Hi all, finished my Classic Airframes Hornet recently, and thought I'd post it up for perusal. Pretty much out of the box, except I did change the aircraft so I could have the red spinners as opposed to blue. I have some rocket somewhere which I'll add in due course, but in the meantime here it is. Paints are Xtracrylic, by the by. This is the first Classic airframes kit I've actually finished - fit was actually pretty good, and the cockpit actually fitted. As far as I can ascertain from photos, there was a small coaming which I scratch built, so I hope this is accurate! Paul

Cheers mate. Unless I can find the deals for Groth's machine I'll stick with the kit decals. Perhaps I'll ask at the decal bank and see if I can get the relevant codes off the Almark sheet. Paul

Hi all, as my Spitfire for this group build is nearly done - I'll be posting it on the 18th, which was considered the 'Hardest Day' by many in the Battle of Britain - I feel like jumping in with another build. I have an Italeri Bf-110 in the stash, which has decals for ZG76, complete with sharkmouth. For various reasons, this is always the aircraft I think of with regards to the German participation, but I am unsure if the aircraft markings (M8+CP, with the C in yellow) is correct for the Battle of Britain timescale. The box has it as 'France, 1940' but isn't any more specific than that. Could anyone advise on this? I'd be very grateful. Actually, the specific 110 I'd like to model is this one because is the exact picture that appears in Dennis Knight's Battle of Britain activity book, the Battle of Britain Bible of my childhood. You have to click 'previous' twice to see it. I was browsing the net, and couldn't believe it when I saw it. Trouble is I never model Luftwaffe subjects ordinarily, so don't have the decals for the AC letters, and it would be handy to know what colour the A is. Anyway . . . Best regards to all fellow group builders! Paul PS For what it's worth, I'll be posting images of my Pegasus 1/48th 249 sqn Hurricane in Nicolson's markings in the Ready for Inspection column on the 16th. He was the only VC in Fighter Command, and the 16th is 70 years to the day of the action that led to him receiving it.

Top work so far! Watching this is a trip down memory lane - I can remember building this kit with my dad in 1980, when the kit was moulded in light blue plastic. Well, to be honest, it was mainly my Dad building it, but fond memories none the less! Box art was better then - wonder why they changed it? Wonder if they lost the original artwork . . Anyway - keep it coming! Paul

Right - update! Thought I'd better actually post some pics of the build, so here are the opening stages. I am intending to keep this one simple, as I want to get on to the painting and decalling asap. I am going to replace the rather useless afterburner can with one from an old Hasegawa hornet, and I might use resin Martin Baker E/J seats if I can find them, but apart from that it's what's in the box. Oh, and a Hawk centre line gun pod, if it fits . . . perhaps not so simple after all! First off - cockpit . . . Then main subsections. Pylons attached to lower wing . . . Upper wings attached to fuselage halves to ensure a good join, tank and nose cone/pitot all assembled. I am going to build as much of this in subsections for the sake of speed and convenience. I am intending to have the lower surfaces Light Aircraft Grey, and as that is also the colour for the undercarriage and doors, I'll do all this now and spray it in one go. The Griffin is also going to get a Lantirn pod and an asymetric load out of tank, GBU-12s and Sidewinders, so I am off to find my Hasegawa weapons sets. . . and I'll also be finalising the story behind the camo and deployment. Paul

Love that Kuwaiti Rafale! Looking forward to the Korean bird! Paul

On to the final straight! Firstly off - brown on, then an oil wash. This probably doesn't show up terribly well given the fact I am a rubbish photographer, but I am well pleased with the effect. Decals! All going swimmingly until I realised I hadn't masked the gun ports, and that the wing roundels would probably get damaged in the process - so they'll go on last. Had a reasonable amount of silvering despite smooth finish and use of setting solutions - out with the scalpel to make lots of little holes, and it seems to be working. Where I am up to. The fin flashes have just gone on, and are wrinkling after an application of micro sol - they'll bed down nicely though. After that, just need to . . . 1. Do the red gun ports. By the by, Tamiya have gun barrels poking out of the outer two ports that I think is characteristic of very early spitfires, so these were drilled out. 2. Add wing roundels 3. Add last details 4. varnish and done! Til then! Paul

Cheers for the guidance chaps! Paul

Hi there, Having recently got the Osprey book on Malta Spitfires, am inspired to do a tropicalised MkV. However, which do people feel is better - the Tamiya or Hasegawa renditions? Comments appreciated! Paul

Right, paint on! First off - the sky underside. I have preshaded this in Tamiya black, not something I have done much of before, but I am quite pleased with the overall result. I only did it with the underside, because I can't see it surving the green and brown on the top sides. Here is the RAF green (Xtracrylix), which I find acts as a nice base coat for the dark earth, giving it some depth. Once this is dried (ooh, about 10mins - I am an absolute convert to acrylics!) I'll tackle the dark earth. I will do this freehand, as I like the overall effect. After that - an oil wash and onto the decals! I am aiming to get this, and the Hurricane I am finishing off as well, ready in the next week. The Hurricane, which I have now changed my mind and will do in 249 sqn marks as Nicolson's Hurri - the only VC winner in Fighter Command, will be posted in the ready for inspection forum on the 16th - the day he got his VC. The Spitfire I want to post on the 18th - the Hardest Day, as per the title of the book by Dr Alfred Price. I tend to think of August as the height of the battle, rightly or wrongly. I am also intending to post pictures of the two Me109s under construction. One, Franz Von Werra's machine, I shall try and post on the anniversay of his shoot-down by 'Stapme' Stapleton, unless I have missed that already . . . Anyway, enough of my drivel - more pictures to follow asap. Paul

I think no. 3 has to be the way forward - very African in style, with bold, bright colours! Paul

Nice idea! I seem to recall that this was a serious proposal at one point. What camo scheme are you considering - wrap around greys as per Super Etendard? Paul

Update to Griffin FG1 back story . . . By mid 1994, deliveries of the Griffin FG1 were in full swing and the OCU, established in Sweden a year previously, was firmly established. The first squadron was due to form in Honington within months, but as of June no formal announcement of squadron numbers had been made. Then one of the squadron leaders in the running for the first command made a rather unusual suggestion. Recognising that the RAF had lost many of its historic squadrons, and with it much tradition and espirit de corps in the 1991 SDR, he went on to suggest that instead of 2 squadrons each comprising 3 autonomous flights, that 6 'mini-squadrons' be formed instead. This would have several benefits. Firstly, six, rather than two, historic squadrons could be reactivated. Secondly, given that the original flights of six aircraft were expected to be deployed as independent entities anyway, some sense of independent identity would be beneficial from a morale point of view, especially when operating in far flung shores. Lastly, it would allow junior officers to get operational experience of command and overseas deployment relatively early in their careers, thus overcoming the huge loss of institutional experience during the 1987 conflict. The idea fell on receptive ears, and in due course announcements were made as to the chosen RAF and RAuxF squadrons, which were as follows. No. 6 and 54, previously Jaguar operators; No. 32, no.98 and No.185; and 610 sqn RAuxF. Wing Commander Edward 'Flash' Harry was chosen to lead the wing and the formation of the mini-squadrons. His task, amongst other things, was to identify relatively young officers to command the mini-squadrons and rotate them in and out so as to find the most capable officers and to quickly spread experience over a wide group of people. He also instituted a common marking to be carried by all the Griffin wing aircraft; the Honington Pheasant, last carried by the Canberra wing resident there in the fifties. It wasn't just the aircraft that had to be introduced to service. Technology was marching on, and the first Lantirn laser designating pods were also being delivered to the wing. These would be vital to the Griffin's swing role functions, and represented a major challenge to get up to speed. As a consequence, No.6 squadron was charged with this particular task. Additionally, there was also the question of the camoflage scheme(s) to be worn by the Griffin. As delivered from the factory, they carried the Barley grey/Light aircraft grey scheme, but given the likely operating environments of the next couple of years (i.e. African desert) this was felt to be inappropriate. Experiments in temporary finishes had generally proved less than satisfactory in anything but the short term, so a project team was set up to develop a choice of finishes that would give the greatest flexibility for operational use. Next installment; deployment and operations! Paul