PaulR

Cheers for the comments Dan - was beginning to wonder if I had bored people to death! Will be posting some cockpit images asap. Paul

Hi all - sprue shots as promised. Am currently combing through my Modeldecal and Xtradecals for unit markings, codes etc. I have a suspicion that I might have to use the Honington pheasant from Model Alliance's Canberra sheet in some way . . . more to follow! Am also contemplating a hemp over light aircraft grey scheme for reasons to be explained . . . Paul.

Hallo all, have just cut my group build teeth on submitting work for the Battle of Britain group build, and as that seems to be going well I thought I'd have a go at this one as well. When I first heard about Whif modelling, I thought it all rather dodgy, but then I became curious, just dabbling in the hugely imaginative posts and ideas. Before I knew it, I would pull a kit from the stash, look at the decals and think. . . I could Whif this! Anyhow, my idea is for a Gripen in RAF service. Now, this might get confusing as this will constitute part 2 of a 3 part story that runs from the early '80s to to 2018. Logic would suggest that I start with part 1, but the model for this is about 50% complete and therefore ineligible. I shall post part 1 and 3 in the What If forum in due course. The general plan for this story, with regard to the planes at least, goes like this. . . Part 1 - 1/72 Hasegawa Tigershark, done up as a Merlin F1A. This will have fought in a NATO vs USSR scenario around 1987. Part 2 - 1/72 Italeri Gripen (2 seater), done up as a Griffin FG1. See back story below. Part 3 - 1/72 Italeri X-32, done up as a Bulldog F2 of 74 sqn. This back story will be set around 2018. The Merlin F1 is 50% complete, and the Bulldog F2 is done awaiting photography. To be completed and posted as and when . . . Anyway, here is the backstory for the Gripen, or in RAF parlance, Griffin FG.1. The year is 1991. Four years after the dust had settled (both literally and metaphorically) from the short but devastating NATO vs Soviet Union war in 1987, the UK government had a chance to look at the state of the armed services. All branches had performed well, but at a huge cost in terms of trained personnel and equipment. In the four years since the war, the RAF in particular had had to regroup around considerably diminished quantities of equipment, and tread water whilst money and effort went into attending to more pressing issues, such as the rebuilding of the economy in a considerably less stable world. In terms of frontline fast jets, the RAF was operating a hotchpotch of aircraft, specifically first generation harriers, Tornado GR1s and F3s, Phantoms, Jaguars, Buccaneers and Merlins. The intense attrition from 1987 and battle damage on remaining jets was such that most of these fleets suffered from high rates of unservicability and were unsustainable in the short to medium term. Long term the government was pressing ahead with the planned Eurofighter; lessons from the rebuilding of post war Germany and Japan were heeded and the fact that large amounts of key industrial locations had been bombed flat by Soviet strike aircraft was turned into an advantage. Brand new factories and plant were planned that would last well into the 21st Century. The Eurofighter itself was planned for service entry early 2000s; but what to do until then? The other aspects to consider were financial and strategic. In the first instance, Britain was hardly flush with cash. In the second, the gradual decay of the Soviet sphere of influence was leading to so-called brush fire wars in various places, notably the Balkans and various areas of Africa, particularly Nigeria and Angola. No country, apart from the US, was able to project large forces long distance, and the US strategic posture was already shifting from Europe to the Pacific, with a much more marked isolationism. The UK, along with France and several other countries, still found itself (for humanitarian reasons and for naked self interest) needing to deploy forces. These, out of necessity, had to be small scale and limited in scope; they also had to be flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing requirements. The current equipment the RAF had in particular was really not suitable for this, and so the government initiated the first Strategic Defence Review since the run in with the Soviet Union four long years ago. The first recommendation was a reduction and consolidation of the fast jet fleet. The Phantoms, Buccanneers, Jaguars and Harriers, already older airframes, had suffered particularly heavy attrition and survivors were often battle damaged. These were retired within 6 months in order to save money and to realign training requirements to the new overall strategic posture the UK was adopting.The Tornado GR1s were to be reduced to a force of 80 jets from the 100 or so remaining and tasked for maritime strike and reconnisance. The Tornado F3 fleet, which had performed particularly well over the North Sea during the war, was consolidated in a 60 strong fleet at Leuchars and Leeming and remained tasked with the overall long range umbrella defence of the UK. Unglamourous and largely unreported, the increasingly unstable nature of the world wide security situation made this vital. The only other fast jets remaining were the Merlin F1s and F1As of the RAF and RAuxF. These were the jets that had really captured the imagination of the nation during those dark five months in 1987, in much the same way the Spitfire had in 1940. 52 of these remained in service, and being relatively new and less complex jets in good condition, were kept on for the rapid deployment role. The problem here was two fold. Firstly, 52 wasn't enough to deploy and maintain training, maintenance and so on with the increasing calls being made on the RAF to deploy in these brush fire wars; additionally, for the type of missions being performed, a second crew member was often -though not always -essential. The government looked at the options, not that there were many. The chosen aircraft needed to be relatively simple and easy to maintain/operate in rough field conditions; it needed to be capable of swing role missions, and preferably a two seater. The government also had an eye on the struggling economy; it therefore had to be cheap and if at all possible generate employment. With BAEs involvement in the Swedish Gripen project, in particular the manufacture of the wings, the decision was obvious and easy; an off the shelf purchase of the Gripen, then in the latter stages of testing and acceptance by the Swedish airforce. 45 two seaters (designated Griffin FG1 in RAF parlance) were ordered in late 1991, with first deliveries slated for 1994. This was to be spread among two squadrons of 18 aircraft each, a small OCU of 6 aircraft and 3 for attrition reserves/maintenance training. These were to be based at RAF Honington. The squadrons themselves were split into 3 flights of 6 aircraft, and were intended to operate in a different manner to smaller, more conventional squadrons. The idea was that each flight of 6 was to constitute a small, organic, deployable force in its own right, a sort of mini-squadron. It was also felt that such a purchase would have long term utility; the advanced, twin seat, canarded, glass cockpit Griffins would make excellent lead in trainers for the Eurofighter fleet in due course. And that's it for the time being! I'll post images of the unstarted kit asap, while I finalise my thoughts on camo, squadrons and operating history, but in the meantime would welcome any comments you may have with respect to the above. Ideally I'd love to make those very cool profiles (as per the Lightnings over Africa or FGR2 Phantoms in foreign service threads) I have seen in other threads, but I have no idea how to do this - what software for starters! I have some ideas for camo, but it would be handy to 'see' it first before warming up the airbrush . . . Paul

Evening all! Just a little more on Lane's Spitfire. As can be seen, I've brought the fuselage and wings togther, and masked and fitted the canopy. The middle section is only tacked on as I will have the hood slid back on the finished article. I've also shot a light coat of interior green over the canopy so it shows through to the inside. One additional thing I have done, althought it isn't especially noticeable, is to sand back the trailing edge of the wings; I've read that the Tamiya wing is slightly incorrect as far as the curve of the trailing edge is concerned, and it seemed reasonable easy to fix - so I did! I do think it makes a subtle but pleasing improvement. I have also heard that the Tamiya fuselage is 2mm short, and the cowling is too flat, but I am certainly not going to faff with the former, and all the pictures I have of the MK1 Spitfire seem to have a flat cowling top, so that stays as is! I have also recently found out that Brian Lane wrote a book about his experiences in the Battle of Britain very shortly after the event itself, under a pen name. Might have to add that to the Christmas list along with the Revell 1/48th twin seater Typhoon . . . Toodle pip, Paul

Hi mods, I'm probably going to finish my yellow nosed spitfire sooner rather than later( Tamiya shouldn't make them so good!) so would it be ok to do another build? i have an Italeri Me110C with sharkmouth that might prove more of a challenge . . . Paul

Morning chum, have been following this one with interest - not done a he111 before, but have the italeri kit plus eduard masks and the same xtradecals as you. Yours is looking good, esp. the cockpit! Paul

Cheers chum! Well timed observation - I was just about to close up the fuselage! Paul

Evening all! Just a quick update tonight. Have completed the cockpit - OOB, excepting the Tamiya tape seatbelts and the additional seat armour and head armour that I added with plasticard. I think (judging by info I have found on this site and others) that the basic configuration is correct, but am always willing to be proven wrong! Paints were Xtracrylix for the interior green and tamiya flat black, all airbrushed, then given an oil wash and dry brush. I've also finished the internals, not that you'll be able to see much! I preshaded with black, airbrushed interior green and then did an oil wash. Photography isn't up to much, but hopefully you can also see the various other bits - undercarriage, tail wheel etc and other minor assemblies completed. Finally, I've finished the distinctive yellow spinner. All with Tamiya black and yellow, run through my trusty Iwata - the best advance I have made in modelling, along with switching to acrylics! Be back with more as and when! Paul

Last things first . . . Right, I'll be doing this kit in a rather odd order. I tend to find that if I do kits in the normal order, I end up with an unfinished model, simply because I can't face doing all the fiddly stuff (masking wheels etc) and my enthusiasm has stalled. So. . . I do wheels, canopy, prop etc first, so that it's just a case of fitting them to the airframe. I'm off to prime these parts with Mr Surfacer 1000 spray before warming up the Iwata . . . On a related note, I am really looking forward to working in a group build, especially with the subject matter of this one. Some of my earliest memories are of my father telling me about the Battle of Britain, underneath my Airfix Spits, Hurris, Me 109s and 110s hanging from the ceiling, and reading my Dennis Knight booklet complete with rubdown stickers (who remembers these - I've still got mine!). I have many developed many areas of interest within aviation history since then, but the Battle of Britain is still my first and best interest. Can't see it changing somehow! Regards, Paul.

Tally ho! First off - pictures of my entry kit (unopened) and various aftermarket bits.

Gentlemen, we are missing the key essential point . . . namely whether they will be Es or Fs! Please let them be Fs - much better looking! Paul

It's 11.30pm, and I am plagued by random questions . . . 1. Why won't Italeri re-release their 1/48th Tornado F3? Was the Italian experience with the real thing so bad? 2. For that matter, why on earth haven't they done an AMX in any scale? 3. Why has no one stepped up to the plate and released a complete set of pylons and targetting pods for the Typhoon, esp. in 1/72? 4. When is Xtradecal going to produce the next RAF update set, with all the BoB anniversary markings etc? 4. Why hasn't Revell produced a twin seat Typhoon in 1/48th - oh, they're going to after all! Thank heaven for small mercies! Off to the land of nod for me, I think. Paul

Hi all, have never joined in a group build before, but when I saw this Battle of Britain themed group build I had to have a go. The only thing is that I was already in the middle of my own BoB mini-group build and have 2 x ME 109s (Frannz Von Werra and Hans von Hahn) and Pete Brothers' 32 sqn Hurricane on the go - unfortunately well past the point I could enter them. Therefore, my entry will be the fourth plane I was planning to build, namely Tamiya's 1/48th Spitfire 1A in 19 sqn markings, specifically QV-K, the one with the yellow prop boss. I am going to use Eduard canopy and wheel masks, Xtradecal markings and the odd bit of plasticard, but that's it. Please click on the link to see the info tying the plane and pilot to the time period required. Later with first images! Paul P.S. dumb question - I can't post construction images until August 1st, yes?

Aha! Success!

Cheers for the links Mish. However, I've copied the link for both of them, gone to insert image on the signatures page and pasted in the address for the picture, and I get a photobucket 'deleted or moved' icon. What am I doing wrong? Probably something bleedin obvious! Paul

Hi there! This will hopefully be my first group build - but was wondering - how do I get one of those spiffy group build banners and insert it onto the bottom of my page? Would be grateful for any help! Paul

Hi there, was wondering - are the Raptors still there? If they are, how long are they staying? Cheers for any info! Paul

Hi there, just wondering if anyone (Xtradecal?!) was planning on doing some 1435 flt Typhoon markings anytime soon? Paul

Cheers for the feedback - appreciate the PM offering scans etc, but no need - the codes and serial numbers will be fine for my purposes! I'll have to try and land that book as well! Thanks,Paul

Hi all, am building a bunch of aircraft for the 70th anniv. of the BoB. I have Franz Von Werra's '109 on the way - but I want to do Stapme Stapleton's Spitfire, the one that shot Von Werra down. Does anyone have any info on the codes serial number of the Spitfire concerned? Did it carry any special markings? Can't seem to get anything from my normal sources, but that isn't necessarily saying much! Cheers in advance, Paul

Hi all, I'm about to start my 1/48 italeri gripen c/w loads of resin, and was doing some general background research. I understand that 204 gripens have been built/will shortly be built, but that the Swedish airforce is only going to have 100 in service. I think I understand this figure as 69 C/D models, with 31 A/Bs upgraded. Now, would I be right in saying that the Czech, Hungarian and Thai aircraft are ex-Swedish A/Bs upgraded, with South African birds being new build C/Ds but possibly diverted from Swedish production to make up the total of 204?? In short, any clarification/information on total gripen numbers, and what is happening to the remaining Swedish A/Bs would be very interesting. It seems incredible that modern jets such as these could be mothballed so early in their service. Have these 'spare' A/Bs been returned to Saab pending possible upgrade and export? TIA for any info you guys may have on this. Paul

I'll look again as well - will post anything I find! Paul I'll look again as well - will post anything I find! Paul

Hi all, was idly flicking through the Jan 2004 Air Forces Monthly when I saw something curious in the article about the Harrier GR7A becoming operational. This is on the first couple of pages. In the background of the smaller picture, you can see two different RN SHAR2 sqn aircraft (one with the trident/chequered tail and the other with the mailed fist insignia) both with 3 sqn markings on the tip of the fin. This was in November 2003 exercise Hairy Funnel (?!?). As this would make for an interesting model, and as I have a Airfix SHAR2 AND 3 sqn markings courtesy of Xtradecal, would anyone on the of chance be able to advise aircraft serials/code numbers for those aircraft? The photo itself is far too small to see this. Cheers for any help, Paul

Hi all, Having managed to find an Airfix Javelin FAW9 on Ebay recently, I am now musing on how to sort out the 'skinny' rear end. I've got the Warpaint plans to refer to, but before I break out the card and milliput I was wondering if anybody had found a good method of correcting this part of the kit. I think there was a - now OOP -Maintrack correction set, and I know other people have used the Frog kit parts, but I can't justify any more cash, so it's back to good ol' d.i.y. on this one! Any hints or advice gratefully received! Paul

Cheers Ian - a great help! Paul