Giorgio N

It's not really surprising when we consider that Italeri's main markets are outside Italy and Italy itself is not a particularly large market for the hobby. An AMX may sound a potentially popular subject but it's not enough to warrant the investment needed for a new mainstream mould.

Both profiles are taken from the volume of the Ali e Colori series dedicated to the G.50. The aircraft with yellow sides is likely the same shown in the pictures I linked above as it's said to have been captured by a SAAF unit... and it's the one that I erroneusly attributed to 260 Sqn. The one captured by 260 Sqn is the aircraft in the other profile, with HS codes (that were the codes for this unit). This aircraft also carried the lizard scheme

A picture of a G.50 captured by SAAF 1 Sqn. can be seen in this page, together with many other interesting pictures https://saafww2pilots3.yolasite.com/robbie-robinson-photographs.php This is not the same aircraft shown at the start of the thread and it's painted in a different scheme (the later "lizard" scheme with blobs of green over brown). Another aircraft was captured by 260 Sqn. and repainted in an unusual pattern. There are several profiles of this machine online

So we'll know in February what kits from other manufacturers Italeri will offer us... that if they are good quality kits from the likes of Platz and Fujimi as they recently did is not necessarily a bad thing....

Correct, 34087 was changed to 34088 in 1984 with Change.7 of FS.595A. Reason was that for a number of reasons the previous FS 34087 was a very different colour from 14087 and 24087. With Change 7 the previous 34087 became 34088 while the previous 14087 and 24087 were renamed 14084 and 24084

Probably not relevant to the aircraft serving in the RAF, but IIRC the aircraft refurbished for Portugal all had the 6-stack exhausts

Thanks mate ! Time to show some pictures of the kit... I bought this one very soon after it was first issued: the local chapter of a toy supermarket chain had a very good supply of Airfix kits at great prices and I spent quite some money there... Unfortunately they do not carry plastic kits anymore but I've still got many red boxes in the stash, including more than one Hawk, This is of course the original issue of the kit This kit was of the first issued under the then new Hornby ownership and this shows: pretty heavy trenches and little detail around.

The exhaust cone was changed in the mid '70s as part of the J79 smoke reduction package so for an aircraft in 1985 you need to use the longer one. For decals I would check HaHen, they have a number of sheets for Luftwaffe Starfighters and also sheets with numbers and crosses in various sizes. Not cheap unfortunately

As a frequent traveller (or better, a former frequent traveller...) I can see both sides of the the coin here. Clearly the sale of alcohol in airport bars is a potential source of problems and I've witnessed plenty of times people already pretty high by 11 AM. They may have been boys heading to a stag party, folks going on holiday for whom afterall the trip is already part of the holiday or sport supporters travelling for their team, I've seen them all. Were they a danger ? Probably 99% of them were not but things can escalate pretty quickly when people are in such state and it is scary to see

If the Phantom is the Esci kit, then I will leave it on the shelves... I like the Esci F-4C and J but with the E they made a visible error in the nose area: they used the same side intakes of the C while the ones in the E have a very different shape and are blended into the nose sides. This is a C intake, mostly proud of the nearby surface https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-4/pages/afm_f-4c_02.shtml This is the intake shape on the E, that blends into the rear surfaces http://data4.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason5/f-4e_munich/images/f-4e_

Very nice picture, thanks for sharing ! The original colour scheme seems to be the "striped" variant of the original 3-colour camouflage, as used on the G-50 Bis of the 5th production series. The fuselage fasces have been left in place for some reason and the individual number of the codes (5) is visible behind the fuselage band, in red. The Squadriglia number would have been on the white band, here overpainted. Have to say though that having the individual number so far at the rear was not common. Now the colours added by the captors are hard to tell.. the fuselage flash is IMH

Based on their recent tracl record, the Airfix kit will sure have one big advantage: the decals ! Decals in Airfix kits of the last few years have been excellent, both in printing and film quality (Cartograf is a guarantee) and in the completeness of the sheets, with all stencils nicely reproduced. IMHO Airfix decal sheets today are among the very best, real top tier stuff Recent AZ/KP decals on the other hand are less than impressive, I bought a few kits from them in the last few months of last year and all had heavily pixelated colours, something that today is IMHO not acceptable. It is

A few random thoughts on 1/72 kits of aircraft of this era... I share the view on others on the Harriers and Sea Harriers: personally I still prefer the Esci/Italeri kits to the Airfix ones. Now for the GR.1 and 3 the Airfix kits have a few advantages (better cockpit, opened auxiliary intakes, some details more accurate) but for the Sea Harriers the Airfix ones are very poor. Similarly for a Spey engined Phantom I still prefer the Fujmi ones although the Airfix kit seems to be more accurate. And yes, Hasegawa for a J(UK) but the Academy kit although designed as a simplified kit isn't

There seems to be a difference, small but important: in the EU scheme coming into force soon, a seller of low value goods outside the EU can still sell into the Union without having to register for VAT in any of the member states. In such a case VAT will have to be paid by the final customer when the goods arrive. That is pretty much what already happens here in Italy when I buy from for example HLJ in Japan: the courier will give me the packet only after I pay him the VAT due. Now this may in the future attract a fee from the delivery company (at the moment this kind of sales here attrac

Well, made my choice ! I'll join with a RAAF Hawk. It's a type I love and I've seen them flying and for this reason I have accumulated a few items to build a model over the years. Now it's a good time to build it !