tonyot

You`ve done a cracking job Graham, well done mate, I especially like the dropped flaps which look very effective, although I would probably replace the propeller if you get the chance because just like the 1/48th scale kits the blades appear to be too short, Well done, Tony

Picky,.....No not really! Graham you are right about NAS standing for Naval Air Station,.......but only for Navies such as the US Navy! In Britain NAS does stand for Naval Air Squadron and an airfield is prefixed with RNAS which stands for Royal Naval Air Station, although to be fully correct they should be referred to by their HMS name! . Sorry Graham but it had to be said my friend! Back to the Avenger,....I`ve e mailed some photos but if it helps, I also have a photo of one of my 1/48th scale Avenger models, although I have a feeling that it should actually represent a Mk.I with the gun mounted above the nose,oh well ; Cheers Tony Quick edit for a spelling mistake,...although there are probably more!

Surely if 809 NAS is to be the OCU for the Lightning FGA.1 (there I`ve said it,..I hate F-35!) then there has to be at least one more naval air sqn equipped with the type, after all it is to form the air group for the new `ROYAL NAVY' carriers? 800 or 892 NAS`s must be prime numbers for another Fleet Air Arm fast jet unit? What other navy in the world has a carrier air group comprising `any' air force fast jet units' never mind `wholly' comprising of air force units,......... the Royal Navy used to be such a proud service! Don`t get me wrong,... I`ll be sad to see 12 Sqn go and I`m glad that II (AC) Sqn will reform on the Tiffie, Cheers Tony

If you sent me a PM with your e mail address I`ll post some black and white photos to you, plus a colour photo of an RN Avenger wearing the basic scheme to which white and black was added for your aircraft, this was for the Anti Submarine role. Could I just say that the Avenger was never an RAF aircraft,....the Fleet Air Arm was part of the Royal Navy during WW2 and still is today,...but only just nowadays! Imagine asking a US Navy aviator how long he had served in the Air Force for,......well it is the same thing over here! Cheers Tony

Brilliant Neil, Nice to see the Halifax`s, Lancs and Whitley etc which I`ve admired before but it is especially nice to see the Heyford which I`ve never seen before, what a good job you`ve done of that too,...... but they all look great together. I say that you should do a Washington next and maybe even a Lincoln! Cheers Tony

Great Stuff,....I`ve got a soft spot for Spits in desert colours and also for those in USAAF markings so when you combine the two,....its a hit with me,.., especially when it is built and painted as well as this, Cheers Tony

Very nice, is this a `What If' or did the Draken actually wear this scheme,...even for trials purposes? Cheers Tony

Hiya Rob, Yes the stowage is from Value Gear and I`m very impressed with it, I`ll be getting more sets. I got mine from Halifax Modellers World which has the full range in stock. The price is very good too, around £7 for a bag stuffed with stuff. Thanks for your kind remarks lads, I`d already started to remove the crazed paint and repaint it,....I`ll stick a photo on when it is done. Cheers Tony

Very nice indeed, lovely finish and build, I`ve always fancied building this same kit as a British Army tank, Cheers Tony

This is looking very nice so far and having just finished off one myself I wish you luck,.....it will be worth it, Cheers Tony

I thought that these 4 bladed Spits were Mk.VII`s? The silver looking stuff around the panel lines was filler I think, to help smooth the airflow over the fuselage. There were two Mk.VII`s, one had twin machine guns and one had twin cannons. The lighter MG armed aircraft was to climb faster to reach the altitude of Ju 86`s and then disable it so that the cannon armed Spit could finish it off,..that was the theory anyway! Both aircraft were later converted into PR aircraft for high altitude work over Crete. Cheers Tony Edit,..... doh,.....I meant HF.VI,..... not VII,...... my Latin isn`t what it used to be!

Great stuff Callum, what a lovely Kiwi Spitfire,.....you cannot beat a Spit in desert colours and this one is top notch! I`ve got one on the go myself, which I`ve converted into a Mk.VIII! Cheers Tony

Hello Rob, I`m glad that you like them and thanks for saying so. I can heartily recommend both kits, they are superb and I`ve got others on the go! People will be cursing me for bumping this up to the top of the pile again,...so all I can say is,....sorry! In answer to your questions; -First the decals. - For the green GR.3 I used Modeldecal set MD078 as mentioned further up where there is a link to the sheet on the Hannants website. -For the GR.1 I used the kit decals, cutting up the available serials to make the one that I wanted plus the set of 4 Sqn markings from the GR.3 kit. -Secondly the colours. -For the two toned Green GR.3 I used Xtracolor X1 British Dark Green and X24 Lichen Green. -In case you are interested, for the GR.1 I used Xtracolors too, Dk Green, Dark Sea Grey and Light Aircraft Grey. Hope that helps, All the best Tony

Really nice model and superb subject, I like something a bit different and the Italian campaign is often ignored, Cheers Tony

Very nice those Bill, which magazine will two of these be appearing in, is it Airfix Model World (AMW)? I`ll look forward to reading your article, Cheers, Tony

Sorry Richard, I didn`t clock your request, but yes,....what Enzo says,....that is the sheet that I used, I should have mentioned that! Radleigh,...fantastic Harrier pic plus the others aren`t that shabby either, I agree,....early Harrier`s look so right under a camo net! Cheers Tony

Thanks everybody, glad you like the Sea Glad`s, Cheers Tony

Hiya Folks, Just a quickie here, I`ve always fancied doing a model of the Overall White 60 Sqn Aerobatic Team Venom FB.4`s and here it finally is, using the very nice Aeroclub kit. Compared to normal injection moulded kits it is more basic and quite labour intensive but all of the main parts are provided and are of good quality. There is no available injection moulded kit of this type anyway and the excellent CMR resin kit is a lot more expensive! Cheers Tony

Hello Folks, I`ve wanted to build one of these for ages and thanks to Miniart here it is at last, a 1/35th scale AEC Mk.III Armoured Car, which I`ve done in the markings of the 1st King Dragoon Guards, the recce unit for XII Corps of the British 2nd Army when they liberated Denmark in 1945; I`m not sure whether the twin Vickers K Guns were actually fitted to the real vehicles but I`ve fitted them anyway as they look good! Cheers Tony Edit- I`ve just noticed that some of the paint has bubbled following a coat of Matt Cote from a rattle can- Bummer!! The rest of the model is brush painted using Humbrol Khaki Drab enamel.

Hello Folks, The new Airfix Gladiator kit appears to be the `bee`s knee`s' but it doesn`t include a Royal Navy Sea Gladiator option yet, however the earlier and still very nice Sword kit does and I`ve finally got around to rigging and finishing this model off. Here it is; and finally, the model is seen here with an old Heller kit which has been painted to represent the scheme which could have been applied to the Sea Gladiators serving in Malta during early 1941 after they were repainted and transferred back from RAF to naval charge with 806 NAS; I struggled with the rigging on this one so it is far from perfect but I hope that you like it anyway, it is now nestled under the wing of a Roden 1/48th kit that is wearing the same scheme, Cheers Tony PS- I meant to add that the wing guns were left off as this was commonly done during peacetime and it was usual to only fit the fuselage guns for gunnery work.

It is a sword flanked by a pair of yellow lightning flashes with a white cloud above them,......if I remember correctly it was taken from the squadron badge and I also used a blown up copy of the artwork drawn by the late Mike Keep in Scale Aircraft Modelling as reference, it was from an issue which had American Aircraft in FAA service as the Aircraft in Detail subject. I cannot find the magazine now,..otherwise I`d scan a copy for you,....maybe somebody else has it? There is also some good British Helldiver info in the Crowood Helldiver book, Cheers Tony

Fantastic job Neil, You`ve built a pair of beauties, talk about making a silk purse from a sows ear and you succeeded in your aim of `wishing along' a new Airfix Blenheim to boot,......so could you please start a Beaufighter kit asap? Well done mate, Tony

As the photo from the thread mentioned above has dropped off (after the Photobucket re organisation!) I`ve attached a couple here in case they can be of help; The decals came from the spares box or Modeldecal sheets and the unit insignia was hand painted onto the model. The initial blue outline was painted on using Polly Scale Azure Blue and then a fine brush was used to recreate the rest,...it was quite easy and well worth the effort. If you don`t fancy that one of the custom decal manufacturers might be worth a try,......they could also do some of the red codes with white outlines which are sorely needed by Fleet Air Arm modellers! Cheers Tony

Am I the only one who thinks that the twin islands on our forthcoming carriers look a bit daft? I much preferred the single island design. As for the Air Wing,......it should really be cat and trap and not VSTOL, but I think that the RAF were frightened that the Fleet Air Arm would have ended up as the lead customer and user of the F-35 with this configuration, so campaigned within the MoD for the VSTOL variant to be restored so that they can claim ownership of the aircraft if/when they finally come into service,...as the VSTOL version will of course not need as much carrier landing expertise. I bet that the F-35`s do not have `Royal Navy' titles applied to them, even if they are flown by a naval squadron,.....just like Joint Force Harrier (sorry...mentioned the Harrier,..oh no!) where the Naval Strike Wing (800 NAS!) were told that they could not apply RN titles to the fin as per the SHAR because there `was not enough room! and it wasn`t really in the spirit of `Jointism'',....what a lot of rowlocks! The corporate RAF (Air Marshal,..key words,...business speak,..business speak!!) are scared to death of the Fleet Air Arm and their aim has been to reduce it to a small helicopter force ever since the 1960`s. Anyway,...off my soap box now,.....I do hope that we have enough `naval' aircraft to fill our carriers,....but I doubt it, how many other navy`s in the world have the national air force flying jets from their carriers,.....come on MoD! Cheers Tony

Very nice indeed, you have done a great job and I`ll look forward to seeing the article in Airfix Model World,.....the finish is superb and I love the decal option! How did you get on with the clear nose,......did you replace it or sand the awful ridges away from the inside? Cheers Tony