Miggers

The The 70's "F" is the one I was thinking of Troy,IIRC the old J was a bit of a naff jobbie.

+1 for the Airfix B-26. Built it years ago(when it came out IIRC,mid-70's),it's only "things" are de-rivveting and the u/c is a bit weak,sure someone did a whitemetal set for it. Ditto for the old Airfix P-38,it still scrubs up well. Whilst the new Airfix C-47/Dakota is a lovely kit and certainly looks every bit as a Dak should,it is a bit on the fiddly side. For an easier build there,I'd go for the Esci/Italeri offering,not quite as accurate,but less fiddly and it still looks like a Dak.

WHOOSH,(screeches to a stop outside above mentioned emporium)"A roll of thin copper wire please my good man" WHOOSH........ On the tee shirt front could I have medium please(he is rather slim you know) In other news,I built the old Airfix Ju88 around 30+years ago and converted it into a "G-6-ish"nightfighter. I alleviated a spares box Matchbox 188 of it's tail unit,a spare Airfix Mossie nose(keep it in the family eh)for the "buisness end",some rather exotic markings from a free Scale Models sheet and off we went. Felt pretty smug about it too,a G-6 nightfighter model was a rather rare bird back then.........

Bit of a run in whatever interstellar speed machine is available methinks. Far simpler to clamber into an Earth transportation device and sidle over to somewhere West of the Meridian or even the conurbation of say,Barth(not Bath)and alleviate a quantity from some poor unfortunate who is banging on about a satellite catching machine or even fiddling with a dodgy Spit XIV supplied by a Frosties scoffer in Oz and furtively moulding his own pilots............ "Gadzooks"they carom "my copper wire has been pilfered by some interstellar fiend from Dorrzitt in a very high powered transportaion device" He-hee

Trick I learned with Alclad,paint the victi,er,plastic surface with Kleer and let it dry out for a day. Once it's gorn orf,mist yer Alclad on(as they tell 'ee to do anyway),coupla skinny coats,woo-hoo,smoove shiny Alclad that also sticks like sh,er,effluent to a blanket.

Good build thread Jan. The night shots with the interior lights on look brilliant.

Guy Gibson's book,"Enemy Coast Ahead" may give you a bit more info Edwahdo. 'Tis actually Gibbo's account of The Dams raid,but does go into his earlier ops with 83 sqn on Hampdens and his nightfighter pilot exploits on Beaufighters. When nightfighting on Beaus,he was actually based at a "local" station,RAF Ternhill in Shropshire(still active as a satellite for RAF Shawbury) for the defence of Manchester and Liverpool during the late 1940/early '41 Blitz.

Cheers Jan. Doing mine as KK138/S No.1 Parachute Training School,RAF Ringway and RAF Upper Heyford January-March 1946. She's in OD/MG/NG,but very faded and grubby,she looks fantastic,a real wartime/early post-war workhorse that's certainly got a few hours on her. If you have Aircraft Profile Number 220-Douglas Dakota I-IV,you find a black and white picture of her in it.

Steve, you sound like my kind of bloke. You like to model an "historical-snapshot-in-time" and put the work in to get there. I'll have a shufty into my B of B "gen" and see if I can turn up anything more for you,but I think the boys have pretty well goit taped for you.

You've got it just about spot on there Dennis,the only thing I can add is that the RAF boys had a very slight psychological edge in the fact that if they baled out,the natives were usually friendly(unless of course you were one of the Polish or Czech pilots), the Luftwaffe boys on the other hand..........

Guy Gibson's last operational sortie with 83 on Hampdens on 23 September 1940 was indeed to Berlin. Not sure of the serial or individual letter,but he'd named his aeroplane "Admiral Foo-Bang",something that he carried on and possibly instigated further with 106 Sqn,many of whose Lancasters were named "Admiral XXXXXXX"

That's possibly an idea Dansk,you might have a seam to sort out in the middle then though. Great job there Jan.Are they Quickboost exhausts or di you hollow out the kit ones? See what Jan and I mean Dansk?,every millimetre a Dak.

Grit your teeth and build the "new" Dak as it is Dansk. I'm in the throes of doing it myself,it is a little fiddly in places,it took me an hour to get both side screens and then the main windscreen into postition correctly,but,but,it is worth it in the end,it looks every milimetre like a Dakota should. Watch out for the wing root/fuselage fillets,the fit of the wing to fuselage centre section,the spar(mine needed a good scraping to lower it's height a bit) and the outer lower wing panels. Take your time,do plenty of test fitting before glueing and make sure that there's no paint on any of the mating surfaces,that throws the fit out considerably. Everything is tightly toleranced for a good fit. In hindsight,Quickboost engines and exhausts(especially the exhausts)lift it from being a great model to a superb one.

How did you get the faded olive drab please Paul? Just at the painting stage of Airfix's lovely looking(bit of a mare to build)C-47 Skytrain. I'm doing it as an RAF Dak.IV in early 1946 still in it's wartime colours that is really worn,faded and stained,so any tips would be good. The Fort.looks a treat.

Goidering Eh,and not a welder in sight. Damn jolly good show. Happy Boffday belatedly too old bean.

Hmmmmm,much firm sawing action,I like it. As to the selfie/speed hair-do malarky,I thought "He's been out on his motorbike without his helmet on"or some such similar hair/wind action sport.

By the looks of that picture Ian,I'd say no.

Go for it Johnny Lightnin'. There's a corker of an accurate Pee-38 out there for Fs2004 Flightsim(The all-red "Yippee" IIRC). I used to virtually "display" it some years ago and can attest that they go very well plus being pretty nimble for a big lass. I also note that the good Dr is once again piftly swissing behind the instructions,he really IS a rascal..... Like Tony's spoonerism of Miss V.Nert Pipples too(be he did a bit of "twiddling"too,trying to tune in no doubt).

Where's the third one coming from? Can't see Vera coming over again.

Hopefully,the Dambusters remake has been shelved indefinitely. The PC world we live in now makes it difficult to make an historically correct account.

'Ee's 'ere. Wire brushing,80's production paper sanding and pan camouflaging done, we're back in action.

Reminds me of the tale of a high ranking and his aide-de-camp visiting the sick bay: "What are you in for lad?" he asks the first patient. "Piles Sir" comes the reply "I see"he says,"what's the treatment for that?" "Wire brush Sir,twice daily" "Very good"say's the high ranking,"And what's your ambition?" "To get well and back to the fighting Sir"says the patient "Excellent son,excellent" says Sir and moves onto the next bed. "What are you in for lad?" he asks the second patient. "Piles Sir" comes the reply "I see,you too eh"he says,"what's the treatment for that?,same as him"pointing to the first bed "Yes Sir,wire brush Sir,twice daily" "Very good"say's the high ranking,"And what's your ambition?" "To get well and back to the fighting Sir"says the patient "Excellent son,excellent" says Sir and moves onto the last bed. At the third bed he asks "What are you in for lad?" to the the last patient "Laryngitus Sir" comes the whispered reply "I see"he says,"and what's the treatment for that?" "Wire brush Sir,twice daily" "Very good"say's the high ranking,"And what's your ambition?" "To get hold of that wire brush before those other two do Sir"......................

Nice work,but do the BBMF really swan about with a cookie and half a dozen five hundred pounders tucked up cozilly in PA's bomb bay? Best get the "Battle Bowlers" at the ready when I see her display in the summer eh what.

Says in a hushed tone down an ear'ole with a surreptitious watch glance: "Alarm in zwanzig Minuten"

No progress,so obviously our Tony is glued to the bog loosing off sonorous blasts I fear.....