Phil Reeder

After delving into this book further ,I counted no less than 8 different colour schemes applied to the Bismarck during his short life ,very useful for the forthcoming Trumpy 200th kit.Its certainly got my brain box working overtime. Cheers Phil

I`ve just received this today from Seaforth ,and after a quick shuffty I think its worth every penny.It has colour drawings of all the major DKM warships at various stages of their lives ,even some destroyers are included . Someone has started to knock it on one of the US naval sites ,so it must be good!! If you`re into German WW2 warships my advice is buy it!! cheers Phil

Hi Christof. I used that way of displaying full-hull ships ,until I discovered waterline. The Glue I used to attach both the Hull to the blocks and the blocks to the base was PVA.Seemed to work for me . Cheers Phil

I`ve worked on this model for the past four years.When I first attempted to build it ,as a full-hull ,I completely lost interest in it,as I`m not really into IJN stuff.Last year I discovered that Fujimi made a wooden deck for the kit and so I got one from HLJ ,and restarted the build,but this time as a waterline,again I lost interest,and it was only a couple of weeks ago I decided to set about finishing this "Mill-Stone"kit,which I have now done.As it cost £150 approx in 2008 (now costing nearly double that),I certainly have had my monies worth out of it!! Cheers Phil

Excellent job ,now thats what I call a "Pagoda"!! Cheers Phil

At about 11.30am today ,a Globemaster flew over the centre of Hull,with all its flaps and wheels down,I presume on approach to Humberside Airport.It`s the first G`master I`ve seen,an impressive aeroplane! Phil

Seems as if trumpy are doing other ships from this class,starting with the Warspite.Pity it isn`t in 350th! http://www.cybermodeler.com/news/trumpeter.shtml Phil

This is one I will be getting,nice to see the post war RN coming out in 350th.I`ve just noticed,why the price difference ,the Leopard is £48.95 ,but the Puma is £79.99 ,strange? Cheers Phil

I thought that this kit had been released about 2 years ago?? Could it be a new version (ie earlier in the war) you are thinking about? Perplexed Phil

Very nice build of an unusual ship. Cheers Phil

More on the forthcoming T23 HMS Kent here: http://www.trumpeter-china.com/a/en/produc.../0706/2168.html Phil

On two occasions recently a Turbo-prop version of the Dakota has passed over my house.It was painted lt grey undersides and had a white fuselage top with a circular blue design on the fin,and there was a pipe sticking out of the rear fuselage .My uneducated guess is that it is an oil spill dispersent aicraft. Any thoughts please? Just curious thanks Phil

I`m afraid this has been put on the back-burner for a while . I`ve restarted a build that has been nagging me for nearly four years,and I want to get it out of the way. Re E-Z line ,I dont think it deteriorates over a period of time. Re the coloured markings on the midships walkway ,they are lights to indicate whether the F/D is clear (I think!) If no one announces an Illustrious class carrier in the meantime (please god it won`t be Dragon,if it is it will have a million parts and instructions the size of a postage stamp!!),I will return to this one. Bye Phil

The port side of the hull has had the fittings re-attached .I`ve been able to rescue some of the PE from my orginial build as I don`t have a lot of PE in 400th scale .After much fiddling around ,I have now got the sea looking something like my usual efforts. Cheers Phil

HI Christof , Yup I know about the Tribal 350th from Trumpy,already planning at least four!! Foxy, I use the thinest stuff available 3 thou ,and attach it with thin CA. Thanks Phil

The seascape is finished,as the build moves on ,I continually touch it up,until I`m completely satisfied with it.I`ve started to add the F/D detail,the arrestor wires and barriers are made from my new found friend E-Z line.I`ve notice the more you stretch it the thinner the line becomes,that could be useful See yer Phil

Veeery Nice,Ian .I love the BPF insignia,it was the "Forgotten Fleet". Cheers Phil

Hi Dave and to this "illustrious "site.Wow that some model of the Victorious ,in fact I`m somewhat disheartened ,I don`t think mine will be as good! Im not putting any aircraft on the F/D,as I hate building them ,they are a bit too fiddlely for my sausage fingers,instead I`m building an aircraft from each of the squadron embarked on her in late 1940,that took part in the Taranto attack. This will give me an excuse to build another Airfix Swordfish,what a great kit!! Then displaying them along with the ship Cheers Phil

Yes ,when I first built the kit in 2007 I used the WEM Rear island,this I mentioned in my first post. Regards Phil

Thanks Ian,yup I`m doing her going at a good rate of knots,nearly finished the seascape ,just the hard bit to do now ,paint it!! Cheers Phil

After looking at the photos in a book called "Swordfish" I came across a good photo of her ,taken in July 1940 off Bermuda,showing three wide stripes on the forward end of the F/D.They seem to match the vertical grey surfaces-AP507B,so I`ve added them to model,If I`m proved incorrect then I will remove them. All the decks in the "Alcoves" have been painted ,dark grey ,apart from the quarterdeck ,which I painted natural wood.The white centre line has been added including the distance markers The model is almost ready to go on the seascape . Cheerio Phil

What a great build ,I will not look at it too much,I`ve got one in my stash and might be tempted ! Excellent job Regards Phil

To go with my Illustrious and Swordfish builds ,I would like to build a Fulmar to go with them.Anybody built the above kit,and if so what was it like? Thanks, Phil

Those are very nice Ian ,I particularly like the "Odd Man Out" ,the Indom. Well this is my intepretation of the camo pattern ,as usual I used Vallejo paints ,Lt Grey equal parts of No 990 and matt white ,the med Blue/grey No 900 Mirage blue.The decks were painted with no 867 dk blue/grey.It was a B****r of a job to do the hull sides with all those knooks and crannies,but I got there in the end,give me a slab sided Battleboat any day!! Cheerio Phil

Hi Ian, The reason I chose Yellow as the colour for the centre line on the Illustrious is from a photo in the FAA markings book,which shows the shade of the line matches the yellow on the Swordfishs roundel,however I may bow to your greater knowledge of these things and do the line white ,I`m used to getting my colours wrong ,witness my Warspite and the SNP stripes !! Thanks for your input Regards Phil