rafalbert

First joined the RAF?

Those leap years come around so quickly

Slow progress is being made (as is usual for me) but the big girl is taking shape. You are definitely right Sleeper, she is a filler queen (I am sure there is a song in there somewhere...).

Ray those look excellent! I have made a bit more progress, but I have to say the fit of the engines to the nacelles is not great. The sprue gates seem to be different types of plastic, almost as if they are for different kits. However, they are on, and a bit of filler has been applied to help fettle them in. The fuselage join needed filler as I rushed it and screwed it up . Anyway, she is starting to look like an Orion.

These are awesome, and the finish is sublime! Keep 'em coming!

I have made a start; cockpit painted and fuselage assembled. It seems to go together reasonably well.

I will stick with the kit decals due to being a lazy git. Plus the colour scheme reminds me of the first Orion I saw at Church Fenton in 1981; it seemed so exotic at the time!

Hi Guys, I have finally finished the old girl, despite a nozzle giving up on me and dumping almost a potful of matt varnish in one shot (I had never seen it happen before). Anyway, it is not a patch on the new tool kit but has scrubbed up reasonably well, and I am quite pleased with the fact that this is the first time I have successfully used a vacform canopy.

Excellent! I was at Northolt when they filmed "The World is Not Enough" and worked the aircraft (even had a chance to nosey around it). It will be great to model it.

Hi Guys, This is another one that has been sitting in my stash for a while, and I am looking forward to building it. I was lucky enough to get a trip in a Dutch P-3 back in 1999; the crew was awesome and fed us plenty of coffee and cake throughout the flight! Dave

There is an Airfix one on ebay at the moment.

Ok, well all main parts have been assembled, now a lot of filling and rubbing down will take place. Just to give an idea of size, this is it next to a 1/72 Hurricane:

Despite all the RAF and US trainers in my stash, I have decided on an old KP Mig-15 Uti and an Italeri Mig-29UB as both have been waiting to be built for over 15 years.

Anything above 1/72 is not really my thing, but I am aware that a lot of people love them. This should sell well, especially across the pond (as others have said), bringing in more funds for 1/72 tools. Nicely done Airfix!

2019 is going to kill me; I have already dug out 7 kits for the first 3 GBs and haven't started on the last of this year's ones...... Anyway, I am going for a Canberra PR9 for the recon, an SU-25 for the tank buster (if that is eligible) and a Super Etendard for the ship killer. I can't decide on the nightfighter. Yet....