The Tomohawk Kid

I have just ordered this bad boy. the Moonbase launch sphere & tower complete with Lunar Module. To give a bit of perspective the sphere is a 100mm in dia, the LM is 150mm in length and the whole thing is 230mm in size. Cost seventy spondulaks inc post. A nice companion with the Fantastic Plastic Moon Mobile and Moonvisions large Lunar Module. Tommo.

Thanks, that's helpful. I'd be very interested to learn how you created the dome shaped window blister? Tommo.

Its looking like Etihad will retire some of thier A380 fleet too, the oldest is only 6 years old. Furthermore, their recently delivered A350-1000s have been mothballed without entering service. Tommo.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the moderators, here is the latest and last update. Exhaust cans painted gun metal and drybrushed with steel and fitted - I went with the Amodel ones despite sourcing the Whirlybirds ones because they are oversize for the Welsh kit, I'm curious as to the fit on the Airfix kit, the kit the are meant for? As can be seen most of the decals have been applied, there are still a few more to add - as well as the undercarriage to complete. The tail planes are pushed fitted for show, the dihedral looks too accentuated, I need to check my refs to get them set to the correct angle, also I may revisit them as there are elements I'm not satisfied with. Tommo.

Thanks, it was just an opportunity not a burning desire. Tommo.

Thanks for the contributions folks, I had a chance of a cheap kit. However, I snoozed and lost - I'll file the comments for future reference. Tommo.

Despite me saying I was going to leave it for a day or two, I needed to get that radome painted. I ended up using Tamyia flexible masking tape, I had to pull it very tight and being low tack it took a few goes to conform to contours and line square it was held in place with standard Tamyia tape really forced down to adhere to the fuselage and the rest of the model was masked with a repurposed Sainsburys carrier bag. I then sprayed it with a series of light coats of Chaos Black (which drys to a nice satin finish) wafting away from from masking tape making sure not to spray down the length of the fuselage, just in case the tape had lifted. I removed the tape with trepidation - no bleed or overspray as I was fearing, not absolutely perfect but more than satisfactory The next decision is, do I paint the flying surfaces with a high sheen silver? I did this on the tail planes and its hardly noticeable - so, that is something for me to ponder on. Tommo.

I thought it would be an opportune time to post an update on my Olympic Comet 4B. From when I decided I just could not live with my previous effort and decided to rewind it, it was intially an incredibly disheartening move and I did it with heavy heart and I was close to confining to the never be completed pile. But I'm so glad I did undertake the rewind because its turned out a quantum leap better, although its not entirely apparent from the photos below. The paint has been curing for 72 hours, I'm going to let it cure for a few more days. The next move is to somehow create the matt black radome on the nose - if I'm being honest I don't know how I'm going to do that as compound curves are going to make masking very tricky, the same with a black decal, so my thinking hat needs to go into overdrive. Any ideas and thoughts will be most welcome. Tommo

I have two different versions of this, were there different variants? I'm not up on the series, I just bought themn because they were cool and cheap - in a sale if memory serves. Tommo.

I have this kit, I'll follow along with interest. Tommo.

The title says it all. TiA Tommo.

White primer for dayglo. Tommo

Frog made one too. Despite its slightly odd scale, the Revell kit is by far the best. Tommo.

Personally, I would have thought Humbrol Midnight Blue would be too dark, it cures erring to black. I can't comment on Revell Night Blue as I have never used it. Tommo.

This one has been on my build radar for some considerable time, I want to build the S-55 in the BEA red/white livery as featured in the Beatles film a "Hard Days Night". I have the Revell H-19A ~(with straight boom) ~ and the S&M Silk decal sheet. I have viewed umpteen images of the machine, but can't decide on the hue of the red. In some photos it is distinctly an orange/red in others it errs to a bright red. I'm well aware of the pigments and dyes used in period photos and the issue interpreting colours from photos of this era. Does anyone know the 'true' colour? I also want to make Sycamore in both quarter and 72 scale in the same scheme too, so the info will useful for that build as well. Ta in advance. Tommo.

You do realise you are replying to a ten year old post? From first hand expierance most S&M decals are out of print, even some showing in stock on thier website are not available. Its either hunting remainder stock at the 'usual' outlets or looking for them secondhand. Tommo.

A lot is explained here in this Timewatch programme, when it originally aired back in the early 2000s it included recently declassified material - some facts/sorties still remain classified re the RAF's overflys of the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The RAF was far more involved than has ever been divulged both now and in the mists of time, some activities are still denied, however former Soviet air force personnel have now confirmed the vast majority of RAF overflys of the USSR, as this programme alludes to. Tommo.

Here is an appraisal of the Amodel Comet combining comments from everyone who has contributed to the thread running on the Airliner forum: Amodel: Comet 4B and 4C Short run injection kit with resin detail parts Newish kit and currently in production Pros - Generally nice engraved detail throughout - Overall profile correct - Well detailed and correct underside fuselage wing centre section - Wing profile and dimensions correct for 4B - Nicely moulded resin exhaust cans. - Freely available and with a bit of effort can be sourced for not much more than the Airfix kit. - Nose U/C accurate and includes good detail. - Attractive box art: Olympic 4B Cons - Fuselage for both versions under length and cross section too narrow - 4C wing too short and pinion tanks wrongly located - Most examples suffer from a large/significant sink mark on the underside fuselage/wing centre section negating one of the biggest pros of the kit. - No tail bumper - No fuel dump pipes on the upper wing surfaces of the 4C. - Decals for the Olympic 4B livery inaccurate. AA kits are great, there is however a significant error with their Comet kit, this again is detailed and discussed on the aforementioned thread. The Welsh Models kit is probably the best starting part point for a 1/72 Comet, I have a few in the pending pile and the wing castings in terms of profile and dims are a work of art. I have not seen the Mach 2 or AiM kits, so I can't comment on them- other than the reputation of Mach 2 kits precedes them. Tommo.

Absolutely. ...or in any other medium come to that. Tommo.

The rewind of my Welsh Comet is nearly complete and I'm so glad I did it and corrected everything that was bugging me, and as a consequence its now looking a quantum leap better. One of things I hadn't initially picked up that was wrong was fin was not perpendicular and was canted over to the right. I thought I was extremely careful 'sanding' down the vac fuselage halves to the lines I had drawn on the backing sheet, or was it the kit or was I a little ham fisted? Either way, the correction was a leap of faith by chopping (with a razor saw) the fuselage just in front of where the fin blends into the fuselage and adjusting the rear fuselage so the fin sits perfectly upright and square. This was either going to ruin the kit or rescue the model, fortunately it was the later. Because it was a vac fuselage piecing it back together and blending/hiding the join was easy with lots of liquid cement a smidgeon of Milliput, I'm not so sure I could have done that so easily with a resin fuselage. In my mind its now looking like a Comet, hopefully a dusting of primer tomorrow and I can push forward with it to completion in the coming days/weeks. Tommo.

Lookin' good. The Amodel wing is not too shabby after all. Tommo

Lookin' good. In my opinion you have got a better result than 'modding' the Airfix kit. Tommo.

However I lined up the nose section to the centre section I was left with a very slight step, so I made sure the top surfaces lined through and went for it . My fears were not fully realised as some abrading with 12000 and 25000 W&D wet brought it in to true and is was not a great hassle to scribe the missing panel lines. I used marine epoxy to allow me to align/adjust the fuselage sections whilst it was curing. My initial thoughts were I had abraded one of the section too far back removing the pour stubs, despite being very careful to bring it to a straight line I had drawn. As the panel lines aligned perfectly I suspect that the resin at the pour end may have slightly expanded on my copy. But I'm really happy with the end result. The tail section looks like it will be a better fit. Incidentally I contacted Kurt not so long back about the Viscount and he has no intention of bringing it back into production as he said it sold very poorly only selling a handful of copies. My intention is to finish it in the TAA livery, I have a set of Hawkeye decals winging there way to me from Auz as I write. Tommo.

I picked up a couple of sets of Whirlybits Comet exhaust cans, I have to say they are very good and match up very well to the pictures that @skippiebg posted up thread - I would say they are an essential addition, ta @ajmm Tommo.

Ah, OK. Mine has 3 piece fuselage with the rear section being made of less dense resin to prevent it being a tailsitter. The pieces are a good fit but the mid section is a tad wider than the other two which means a bit more cleaning up than I would have liked given the exquisite and restrained detail I'll be have to be careful not to lose. The date on the mailer the kit came in dates from August 08, so it must be one of the first Kurt produced. Tommo.