Eric Mc

Amazing. I might start my Stirling soon and this is a true inspiration.

We need more like him. Shame he's deciding to call it a day - but at 75 he deserves it I expect.

Very nice. One of my favourite Lightning schemes.

Understood. Perhaps you could persuade him to go out with a bang - by doing an Ambassador 😀

An Airfix one would be lovely but I think the Republic of Ireland winning the football World Cup is a far more likely scenario. Valom did do a DH91 Albatross which is roughly the same size as an Ambassador so I think they could do it. Incidentally, the Albatross and the Ambassador were both designed by Arthur Hagg. Although the Ambassador was an Airspeed design, Airspeed was actually owned by de Havilland.

👍🏻

A Stirling is definitely on my "to do" list. I have examples of both the Airfix and Italeri kit in the loft.

No additives added -apart from Xtracrylix thinner. The black is Tamiya NATO black, which is very matt. Since that photo, I have added a few coats of Klear to the whole model to even out the finish and "glossify" the surface for decal application. Once the decals have been added and have been given at least 24 hours to settle, I'll add a coat of Xtracrylic Matt Varnish. I find that when this is thinned with water it gives more of a semi-matt finish, which I prefer. Looking at pictures of operational Hampdens, the surface finish can vary massively from very flat matt to semi-gloss - often on the same airframe! I'm sure this was due to people walking on wings, spilled fluids (fuel, oils, hydraulic fluid etc) and general wear and tear. I've tried to get the correct shades and sheen on the collector rings at the front of the engine cowlings. Modellers often seem to interpret these in very odd ways. I saw one finished Hampden model recently where the collector rings were finished in matt brown. More often, they are coloured in a quite shiny bronze finish. I blame "old Airfix" for that as, in the old days, their instructions always told you to paint collector rings with their own brand metallic bronze paint. In reality, the shades were much more subtle. And they varied quite a bit depending on the age of the aircraft. They also discoloured due to the hot exhaust gasses. There are a few aircraft flying today that still have these types of these collector rings, the Shuttleworth's Gladiator and Lysander and Duxford's Blenheim I are good examples and you can see what the collector rings REALLY look like by observing those aircraft carefully. There's still quite a bit to do on the Hampden. If I apply myself, I might get it finished in time for my next club meeting which will be next Monday.

I hadn't realised AZ had issued a replacement transparency set. I might order a few.

Too late now. I'm going with the box art.

I have a couple of Valom Hampdens plus their Hereford in the stash. I also have the AZ reissue of the Valom kit. I have heard that the transparencies on the Valom issues are difficult to fit. I'd like to have a go at a Stirling before too long. I have the Airfix and Italeri versions waiting in the wings.

Just an update showing the provisional list of clubs and traders who will be attending Modelfest. I'm getting quite excited about this now - Clubs: Airfix Modelling SIG Airports Aerodromes and Airfields SIG Aldingbourne Modellers Asian Air Arms SIG Bognor Regis Military Modelling Society Gulf War SIG Earley Risers IPMS East Sussex IPMS Salisbury IPMS Thames Valley IPMS West Middlesex ISCA Modellers Mirage SIG Models For Heroes Poole Vikings Prima Minautos Romsey Modellers Russian Wheels And Tracks SIG IPMS Southampton Surrey Scale Model Club Sussex Independent Modellers UK Card Modellers West Berkshire Model Club Martin Hale North Devon Model Society IPMS Wallingford French Air Forces SIG Ships Submarines And Naval Air Power SIG Blackbushe Heritage Trust Traders: Aviation Antiques Freightdog Valiant Wings Paul Davis Aeromodeller Books Brigade Models Title Page Aerobilia Pol Models Colin Lee Ed More Affinity Models Frome Model Centre Chris Mitchell Military Model Fox Miniature Dioramas Colin Levy Jackhill Models Fields Of Glory Mark Spicer Brooks Models North Star Models Lucky Model Squires

Coming along. Got the dark green pattern on yesterday. Xtracrylix is my favourite range for WW2 RAF colours.

The Haynes Manual (if you can get it) is pretty good.

It's not good but it may not be terminal - yet. A company "In Administration" means that an Administrator has been appointed to run the business and, if possible, find a buyer for the business. If a buyer cannot be found, then it is most likely that the company will THEN be put into liquidation.

Thank you. Looking forward to this immensely

I always get apprehensive at this stage of the build. The model gets more and more buried under layers of masking tape and you begin to worry that you have covered (literally) all the things you need to have covered - and that it will all come off again properly. I always think of the Hollywood horror movie "What Lies Beneath".

Some pre-shading before applying the camouflage colours -

I was half expecting something like this. It's a very dangerous form of flying.

Fantastic. I can see a few red tails appearing on my bomb set 😀 Mine might also be a bit too yellow to be fair so a buffing might be in order too.

Great shots. I'd mark the Greek's down though for excessive pre-shading on their Phantom.

Gorgeous. Regarding your bombs, what is your source for the yellow trail sections on some of them. I've painted the bombs for my Hampden build yellow but if red tail sections are applicable, I'd like to paint some of the bombs with red tails if appropriate.

Last year for the F-105 - what a beast.

In recent times he had a regular real-space models article in Spaceflight magazine (the magazine of the British Interplanetary Society). Sadly, they had a change of editor who decided there was no place for model building articles in a magazine about spacecraft - which is a bit sad. Maybe the new editor thought that model related articles wasn't "grown up" enough for what he considered the target readership.

Very sad to hear this - although I've been half expecting it for a while. You were always one of my favourite traders at model shows and will be missed.