Irish 251

Also flew in these striking colours: https://flic.kr/p/a3LJzJ

Lovely result. I like the paintwork in particular.

They're not Jungmanns but a bit of googling led to a Air-Britain Archive magazine which said that they were Gerner G II Rs (no, I had never heard of the type either!). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerner_G_II_R

In storage, I think:

Or is the other one already turning? The photo quality is not really good enough to be certain.

The kit options are to be Irish, Portuguese and a red RAF royal version (presumably one that members of the royal family used during flying training.

Completely new, according to the online presentation.

I would not rely too heavily on colour film (possibly Kodachrome slide) for an accurate rendition of what appears to be fluorescent red/orange. This thread may be of interest, as it references two shades and FS numbers 28913 and 28915.

Thanks for the review. I have a couple of the earlier issues of this kit, which must not have been a strong seller, as they were discounted substantially at times. Anyway, just to note that for the Berlin Airlift period, none of the aircraft would have had the more bulbous radar nose, which was a late-1950s retrofit. The kit instructions may have this correct but the artwork on the box and for the different markings on the decal sheet seems to me to show the radar nose (which a lot of surviving/preserved C-54s have fitted).

Have you seen this book? https://www.google.ie/books/edition/B_57_Canberra_Units_of_the_Vietnam_War/vlWzswEACAAJ?hl=en The author describes the finish as natural metal and photos do seem to show some tonal differences. I think T. E. Bell may frequent these forums on occasion so maybe he will be along to shed further light on the matter.

I bought this kit recently, in part being attracted by the text on the back of the box that reads "Several country versions included". As noted in the review, there are just two marking options. Nonetheless I am looking forward to building it. The main thing to note however is that the kit cannot be used to depict the post-war remanufactured versions such as the USAF C-45H, which had enlarged (lengthened rearwards) upper nacelles and also a modified wing centre-section with increased chord. I draw attention to this, as many aircraft seen post-war with the US and other military air arms incorporated these changes. The civilian aircraft (N149L) provided for in the kit decals was a former C-45H so it would also have had the mods I have described. The Navy aircraft seems to have retained the original features so the kit is accurate for it. Geoff Goodall's website has lots of production information and photos covering the many permutations of this timeless design, many of which bear little enough resemblance to the original versions. By the way, Belcher Bits do a simple conversion set to enable the C-45H and equivalents to be modelled.

Looks normal here and this was its last flight, apparently.

The image for XM597 looks correct, though, so maybe all is not lost.

And on many other aircraft in their ever-expanding collection.

This site may be useful too, though the size of the photos is maybe a bit small for detailed reference. https://www.fradu.info/

There were some changes to the aircraft during their service lives, including a new, longer radome for more modern radar and changes to the cabin window layout. Let's hope these are provided for in the kit.

I see the painting diagram says "North Ireland" a typo, no doubt.

Although some F.2As may still have had the lower cannon ports fitted, I suspect that the guns themselves were absent in these cases, which would have enabled Firestreaks to be fitted and used. A reference work such as Stewart Scott's tomes on the Lightning would probably shed further light on the matter but I don't have access to my copies at present.

Beautiful model and those markings really stand out. I concur re the difficulties with this kit. This should not be happening - precision is all very well, but not to the extent that it prevents the average modeller from assembling the kit well.

Lightnings in grey/green camouflage had bare metal undersides, as they had worn pre-camo. The camouflage wrap-around under the leading-edge was standard also.

Did I hear them say in the YouTube video today that some errors in the original kit would be corrected?

It's a pity that the DC-6B is being issued with Air France markings, as that airline never flew the type. An Air Atlantique one was painted in AF livery for a movie, I think, but that's all. Anyway, it is still good to see these nice kits being reissued.

The AEW Gannet is so different from the other versions that it would need a new fuselage as well as many other AEW-specific parts. It would in effect have to be a different kit IMO.

Excellent result. Well done.

I have a feeling it was not officially part of the museum collection and so not subject to any formal preservation arrangements.