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tonyot

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Posts posted by tonyot

  1. Yes Chaddy thats the Z Nose which I have in mind, great family link and I hope that he survived the war? Ever since I saw a photo in the book `Melbourne Ten' when I was a kiddie (it was a library book!) I`ve always wanted to model this aircraft.I was often flown by Flt. Lt. Broadbanks but Sqn Ldr Baird also flew it too and there is a photo of him and his crew plus the groundcrew in front of this aircraft on page 42 of this book, having flown 8 operations. There are decals on Xtradecal sheet X72146 in case you didn`t already know, although the instructions incorrectly state that the aircraft was based at Leeming?

    I`ve begun to paint my Halifax now alongside the Ventura and have finished the Dark Earth coats ready to apply the Dark Green disruptive pattern. After that I`ll mask off the upper surfaces and use a Tamiya rattle can to apply the Night finish. To make this easier I`ve left off the tail fins and wings for now and will add these after the model has been painted.

    Cheers

    Tony

  2. My research on 429 Squadron in which my uncle served from late 1943 to late 1944 may add something to the answers above. 429 Squadron started to receive their Halifax MkIIs in August 1943 and most of these, including JD363, had been passed to them from 408 Squadron. At that time all the Halifaxes had the Tempsford nose and the triangle fins. Tony OT is correct in that it was late in the year when the 13MU working party arrived to fit the rectangular fins. My uncle recalled this work being carried out on the Halifax Mk Vs which started to arrive late October 1943. Graham Boak is also correct in that the Series IA was used to designate those Halifaxes with the full transparent nose and again, most of the Squadron's aircraft had this fitted before the end of the year. This was a time of change for the Squadron as they moving to be a Halifax MkV Squadron, so most of the MKIIs went, leaving only a few with them into 1944. All the MkVs had transparent noses, Morris Block radiators and rectangular fins by the new year.

    I would agree with Graham that by October 22, JD363 would have had the transparent nose and the Morris Block radiators. However, it may have still had the triangular fins. The Squadron Commander at the time, Wg Cdr Pattison, had the mid upper turrets removed from the MkIIs and the MkVs to improve performance. Instead, he introduced a Squadron modification, fitting a single machine gun to fire through a hole in the rear fuselage floor, with the gunner lying on a mattress. Later, this was replaced with the Preston Green gun fitting. The Squadron did not get H2S until the arrival of the MkIIIs in 1944.

    I hope this helps.

    Ray

    That is really great info Ray, thanks for sharing and very interesting indeed,

    Cheers

    Tony

  3. Great stuff Tom, keep up the great work.

    Don't know if these are of any use to you Tom?

    The fuel tanks were covered in a black rubbery material, although I'm not sure if that was on the production aircraft from day one. But certainly the latter ones.

    P43L_zps25d2f935.jpg

    p43r_zpscdf12787.jpg

    Isn`t this hangar the one which now houses the Ulster Aviation Museum? I remember hearing that it is known as the Stirling hangar and a recall a very similar photo showing wing production taking place inside?

    Cheers

    Tony

    • Like 1
  4. Saw one of these in RAF markings at the Wichita Falls, TX, airport in 1977 when deplaning from a commuter flight. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me at the time. What would a Pembroke be doing in North Texas???? The Wichita Falls airport shares runways with Sheppard Air Force Base, but this Pembroke was parked on the apron/tarmac in front of the civil terminal.

    It might have been operated by the UK Embassy Air Attache as Pembrokes were commonly used for this purpose around the world? Maybe taking the Ambassador or other Embassy staff to a function?

    Cheers

    Tony

  5. Tony,

    Maplins do a roll. This is the one I use, with backing paper. It may be easier to use the one without, and stick it onto clean glass for cutting.

    http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/aluminium-tape-50mmx457m-n46cf

    Regards,

    Adrian

    Cheers Adrian,

    I might get hold of some of that then, it looks very useful. I love the extra detail that you`ve added and I`m looking forward to seeing this one progress,.......as you`ve already discovered the turrets on this kit are the bugbear,.......they should be the same yet one is much smaller than the other but from what I can remember about the three which I`ve built I swapped them around as you`ve done.

    All the best

    Tony

  6. Talking Halifaxes, is it me or is the Airfix BIII re-issue well behind schedule ?

    It will be the surprise new tooling revealed at Telford,.....all singing and all dancing with alternative wing tips and rear turrets and a follow on release with Merlin engines,......you just wait and see,.........I hope so anyway!

    Cheers

    Tony

    • Like 3
  7. That is one of the best finished Wimpey`s that I have ever seen, well done.

    I really hope that whoever did the decals (Xtradecal?) actually meant to apply the code KD to the sheet o represent an aircraft belonged to 30 OTU based at Hixon and that they have not mistaken this for the similar looking code KO of 115 Sqn- which wore a very similar style of codes? If it is meant to be a 115 Sqn machine then the corners of the `D' can be quite easily modified to become `O`s' I suppose, but I hope that my concern is misplaced and that it is actually a 30 OTU Wimpey?

    Cheers

    Tony

  8. Thanks lads,

    Neil- Great news about the Z Nose,........that`s definitely going onto my shopping list x 2 at least,...I want to do a 10 Sqn one with a shark mouth and the famous Canadian one with the Metro Goldwyn Winged Lion on the nose. I did the Matchbox kit with those decals but it just didn`t look right on that model.

    Pete- I attached the resin chin intakes to the kit cowling`s before they were fitted to the wings but it doesn`t matter either way. Cheers for the info re the porthole,.....I got sidetracked with the reference hunting as I ended up watching a film with the missus,......`The Love Punch',.......really funny for those of us of a certain age,....ie over 40!

    Cheers

    Tony

  9. I love the retro paint scheme website,....some real corkers on there and I`m glad that somebody else thinks that this Airbus thingymajig looks like a jazzed up 21st Century Belfast too,....I thought that it was just me!!

  10. I`ve been researching the triangular fins on the Mk.II Series Ia and those still in service had theirs replaced by working parties who went around the various airfields fitting the new rectangular type and the Canadians in 6 Group appear to have changed over between Christmas 1943- April 1944,.....possibly because they were the furthest north of all the bomber groups? 4 Group and the Airborne Forces units certainly appear to have changed over sooner, but not sure about the Coastal units?

    Great idea for a model by the way Steve,.......personally I`d do it with triangular fins unless you find photos to say otherwise? Same goes for the mid upper turret and I`d leave off the H2S radome too,.....but I may well be wrong, that is just my `gut feeling'. They would have left the factory in this configuration.

    Cheers

    Tony

    • Like 2
  11. Thanks fella`s,

    After a bit of a break on this one all of the seams have been sanded smooth and although the Freightdog resin radiators are in place the remaining plastic parts of the engine cowling`s have been sanded to make them look slightly more narrow and less bulbous. With that the propellers have been cleaned up and test fitted and the resin air scoops have been attached to the side of the engines and above the inboard pair too having removed the puny strip found here on the kit,.....compare the Freightdog propeller shape with the laughable attempt by Revell!;

    DSCF2000_zpsae1c3665.jpg

    Here the wings have been test fitted to the fuselage and it is now time to start putting some paint on!;

    DSCF2003_zpsd0c55fb3.jpg

    Cheers for now,

    Tony

    Edit- I need to double check whether to retain the fuselage porthole above the wings or not,.....my task for tonight!

    • Like 1
  12. Hiya Ed,

    When I refurbished my old Airfix C.Mk.V conversion I looked everywhere for photos of this same Stirling as I fancied this one too,....but failed miserably so went for another aircraft without squadron codes.

    I`ve got the Magna civil Liberator conversion and it is quite nice, so as the Stirling is of a similar vintage and comes with decals etc I`d certainly not write it off. I used an old `Flying High' conversion which may be similar to the Heritage conversion and it was pretty basic,.......but the resin used by Heritage is generally nicer than the powdery style of resin used by Magna,........without actually seeing both sets though I cannot really comment on either.

    Cheers

    Tony

  13. Cheers Mike,

    Thanks for that, I really like the colours of the Colourcoat range as they look spot on but I only brush paint by hand and can find them quite hard to use sometimes, especially when layering multiple coats as they appear to be designed for airbrushing.Nevertheless I`ll be topping up with some of these at Telford as the range includes some colours unavailable elsewhere (Sky Grey for instance) and I`ll definitely get some Temperate Sea colours,

    Great job,.....one of the most authentic looking Martlet/ Wildcat`s that I`ve yet seen and looking forward to seeing it finished,

    Cheers

    Tony

    • Like 1
  14. Looking good Bill,......this is where I`m at with my pair of Beaufort`s which are now languishing inside a box on the shelf of doom!

    Re the panel and hole in the roof behind the turret,.....aren`t they just part of the main entrance in the left hand side? The hole looks like a small window or similar to me and I`ve never seen a gun fitted here,.......but I`m no expert!

    Rmember what I said in my PM about the Aussie Beau`s all having Twin Wasp engines but that later ones were fitted with Hamilton props rather than the Curtiss Electric ones originally fitted to Twin Wasp engined RAF & RAAF aircraft.

    Keep on going mate, you are doing a great job,

    Cheers

    Tony

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