TonyW

More pictures of that scene here... https://forum.dcs.world/topic/197067-bac-tsr-2 They don't help with the lettering though.

Typical, no bus pictures for ages then a whole lot turn up together. Memories of getting the 28 and 52 to school come flooding back after trawling the whole thread. Thanks for posting. Tony.

The deck level shot of the island and helicopter brings home just how much progress you have made. It looks superb as it sits. The look of it once done is going to be something else altogether!

A Glenco one is on its way to me at the moment, I'll be following this thread with more than a bit of interest. Tony.

Thanks for the kind words David. It's possible that the kits might have been used for therapy back in the day. They were a bit on the expensive side though and availability would have been a problem. Supplies of the plastic used pretty much dried up during the war due to rationing and FROG even went as far as moving to solid wooden kits in very flimsy boxes as a way of at least having something to put on sale. Plastics started again post war but the Penguin kits were on the way out by then and they released very few new kits. It's more likely that wooden kits would have been used for any therapy as they were a lot cheaper and far more available. Peter Van Lunes book on the subject, FROG Penguin Plastic Scale Kits 1936-1950 is well worth getting if the subject interests you. As far as I know Peter still sells them on Ebay. I doubt the book will go to a second edition as the subject is very niche, so once the first edition is sold out that will be it for easy availability. I'm not linked to the book sales in any way, just passing on relevant information. There are a couple of pictures in the book that I provided but that's it for my involvement.

Very nice indeed. How does the cat get on with it?

I've just read through the whole thread. Outstanding work from start to finish! Tony.

I can't help with the radiator question unfortunately, that engine looks superb though. Tony.

I'm not saying that this thread has slowed down any, but a glacier passed by my shed window yesterday, on its way to Norway. The breeze of its passing blew some dust off the Comet build. I'm in the middle of a big kit sort out here with stuff arriving and departing at a frantic rate. That's restricting my building time somewhat but a tiny bit got done yesterday. All my Comet project planes got a big sortout and the current BEA build got some hibuild primer added, followed by a tiny bit of filling. It will get finish sanding today and I'm aiming for paintwork before the weekend. It wasn't only Comets that got sorted. A box full(!) of Brittania builders got a look in as well. I confess to doing a bit of work on the one closest to completion, new white fuselage top and a bit of wing polishing. The temptation to carry on and finish it was strong, but I've packed it away with the others and will come back to it later. The Vulcan is an old build of the Lindberg version, also in need of repair. It's more than a bit annoying that I have all the other FROG airliners in a similar state of disrepair and not a lot of spare modelling time in the foreseeable future. It's even more annoying that the Golden Age group build is also looming. I have a Contrail Mayo Composite I really want to get done for that one. Quite how that's going to happen is a bit of a mystery at the moment. Tony.

Here's my attempt as smashing one into shape during the Classic Airfix GB way back in time. It fought every inch of the way but it turned out just about OK in the end....

Old decals, or transfers if you are a duffer, can have the yellowing dealt with by putting the sheet in sunlight for a few days. Old sheets can also benefit from a couple of clear coats to keep them in one bit. Use the sheets a day or so after coating as I've had coated sheets get a bit brittle once the clear had really dried off.

The Airfix kit fits where it touches. It's really showing its age and needs a ton of work to bring it up to current standards. The canopy might as well have been for a Spitfire going by the fit of the thing. It was a 1958 release though and scale accuracy wasn't the fashion at the time. The more recent red box issues have first class decals, in all three Mildenhall race versions. They are issued as separate kits though, three kits, one version for each.

Fantastic photographs, thanks for posting them. There's something other worldly about Japan that really fascinates me. Colours seem just that bit more vivid for instance. Tony.

Here's my take on the Dow 7 finish on Halibrand wheels. It's about half way down the page.

The GB's are starting to stack up now, I'm struggling to keep up. The Twins and FROG GB's have got entries from me running, the Baby Boomer GB is waiting on me joining in and now this one is on the horizon! There's never a dull moment on Britmodeller! My Short Mayo composite is ready and waiting.

That's one very impressive collection! I'll be spending the next hour or two playing spot the rarity!

The ultimate '55. I'm in!

The Cortina isn't forgotten, it got a bit of attention today. White primer for the body parts, a splash of red for the interior. Bodywork will follow shortly, mainly along the tops of the wings. I'm going for a white car, red interior. Classic simplicity. I'm undecided about a side flash colour. Red might work or maybe an Allan Mann gold? A bit of lowering will also take place. The seats got plastic card rears added to loose the gapping voids that FROG give you. I would rather avoid adding door cards if I can, but those great big windows are going to invite a peek inside. Things are a bit sparse in there, so something will have to be done. It's never going to be a superdetailed model so I'll keep things as simple as possible in there.

That was one of my go to shops when I lived in Croydon. They used to get in dirt cheap car kits from time to time and I would hoover them up. Nice display models in the window as well. Beatties were at the other end of the High Street and they had Airfix kits in the photo boxes, looking rather gloomy. Not Airfixs finest moment.

There are some quite stunning builds on show here, very motivational and definitely something to aspire to. Here's a couple from the mists of time. Things have changed a bit since these two were new. FROGs Penguin P51 from 1946, one of their first releases post WW2, and the first Airfix P51 from 1958. The FROG model makes the Airfix one look quite advanced. That's saying something! The Airfix kit measures up closely with the plans from the Aircraft of the Fighting Powers series. That was as good as it got for what were toys, aimed at children at the time. In it's defense, it was a better model than the first Spitfire and Bf109. Accurate plastic model kits had to start somewhere, and here's the beginnings of a very long line that shows no sign of ending.

Lovely stuff Steve. My first ever Matchbox kit was I think, the A10, it was soon followed by the F4 and some of the AFV's. Those things were a bit addictive, I'm still building them umpteen years later.

More progress. The fuselage halves and the bent wing are now nice and straight. I superglued a short length of brass tube into the fuselage to prevent any later movement, just as a precaution. Then the tail parts were added, again using superglue, and the whole airframe very lightly sanded over with a very fine grit polishing kit paper. That removed all the marks I made altering the cammo pattern and freshened up the old green paint. A coat of acrylic semi gloss clear got added overall to even the shine, and things are at last starting to come together on the paintwork front. I've raided the very distorted spare silver wings for the landing light covers and undercarriage parts. The other bits and bobs are the original seats and instrument panel, all paper parts you cut out and add to scrap material to give you cutting edge 1938 detailing. A couple of flaws on the fuselage codes were touched in with a mix of ultramarine blue, titanium white and cadmium yellow. No percentages to report, just add a bit of each until the right colour appears. Here's the FROG model, sat against a solid wood one. I'm not sure who the manufacturer was, or even if it were a scratch built model. It was silver once, which suggests a very early build. The cammo and yellow are a later addition and again suggest post Battle of Britain. The model came to me with a few other solids. They date from the forties to the early fifties and all need a lot of TLC. I've started to repair the undersides of the Penguin model. It's in fairly decent condition, and a smarten up with new black paint will go a long way to making things presentable. The wooden kit wingspan is a bit greater than the FROG and the leading edge very different. I had to give the model a good clean for the pictures as it was in my 'to do' pile and had the grime of years on it. The canopy parts were filthy and came away from the fuselage during cleaning. They look to be home made. The front screen is made of separate parts, very well glued together, impressive work! Both models deserve to be restored so I'll be adding the wooden wonder to the thread as a bit of an extra. More later. Tony.

My Dornier 217 K2 by Italeri in 1.72 is finally finished. I've wanted one since an aborted attempt at converting an Airfix Dornier while I was still at school, way back in nineteen hundred and frozen to death. Never say never seems to apply here!

And with a final shove from me, the Dornier is finished. To be honest, it became a bit of a task towards the end, sometimes builds go like that. Luckily having the build on show here gave it that extra bit of help towards the finish line, rather than getting boxed up and forgotten. The kit itself went together very easily. Small parts were very fragile indeed, undercarriage legs and pylon crutches especially. The Fritz X is pretty much hidden from view from most normal viewing angles, but I know it's there. I debated on the wing tank position and went for the rather odd looking fitting in the pictures. I couldn't find a shot of a tank on an inner pylon, but I knew the outer was plumbed in. The easiest option would have been to fit no tank, and I can always remove it if I've got things completely wrong here. I do finally have a K2, it's been a very long time coming.

Thanks Derek, I wasn't aware of that article and the magazine has been sitting here for twenty plus years! Bill Mathews, the articles author, was still going strong when Peter Van Lune published his book on Penguins. His updated restoration techniques are the ones I am using on the current Battle restoration. The hot water method in the article isn't always the best as I found out the hard way. I attempted a straightening of a Wellington fuselage using the method and managed to ruin the fuselage transfers by it. Bill later improved his method to include the freezing part. I've adapted things further by using the steel bar heat sink addition and doing everything dry. Techniques evolve. Here's the article. The bit about the cost of Penguins in the day is informative.