viscount806x

This is true….

Not wishing to be a clever dick but for any Viscount except an early V.700, number 3 was always started first - hydraulic pumps were on the inners and gave pressure for the parking brake.

Yes I too grew up with them. There are bound volumes around of selected issues which seem quite good value. Still on Amazon now as I can see.

Good luck with this kit. I built this some 40+ years ago as a BA V.701 and it was a long haul for such a small kit. You will need some aftermarket decals too because the Kader ones are useless. Try Hannants for a search, probably Two-Six decals will come to the rescue but the scale differences won’t help much. I do have some sets put by which I could be persuaded to part with, depending on what airline you choose. Regarding props, you might have a problem but Welsh Models used to do a nice white metal sets in 144, near this scale either for early or late versions but unsure of availability currently. You could try Densil who runs Welsh Models and he might be able to help. Good luck.

Valiant Wings 15 page.63 has a nice under wing photo of the later fairing bulge. Looks as though it was simply modified to take away the rear/back sculpting of the fairing in a straight across manner in line with the under wing ‘brake hinge line or just bit forward of it. What the original shape prior to this is still to determine. I’ll keep looking. edit: My guess would be that it would be a standard aerodynamic teardrop shape, coming back to a sharper point. Maybe someone has a modified Tamiya F.1 kit without he airbrakes who might help. None of my references are any help sadly.

As a small assist from me, I rate the Xtrakit Swift decal sheet as being as near as original. The 79sqn markings are on there as are the correct diameter roundels (27ins) and not as Airfix had them (from a preserved machine painted incorrectly).

Hello Carlos, first requirement might be sit down and hope the idea goes away. If not, have a stiff drink. If you truly are a masochist (I can identify with you, sadly) then your options seem few other than trying with a more complete kit such as the Dynavector vac or the Scratchaeronautics resin kit, both out of production but still seen occasionally. The undercarriage parts might be a big problem but I think perhaps the wheels may be similar to the Sea Vixen.. others on BM may be able to help more. Good luck !

I think quite a few of us are in your position John, I know I am similar but a bit older (I read your unedited post) . I contacted Eduard a while back on this subject but they were non committal so don’t hold your breath. Maybe one of the aftermarket chaps (Ali, Colin ?) might do the decent thing for us and create a bowser wing fir the Eduard Spits. I live in hope anyway. Nige B

Thanks for a nice review Julien. I built this back in the day (1975 is nearer the mark I think) and it is really a very nice kit as I recall and I thought Airfix were trying hard with their new kits. The only thing I would advise, over and above the remarks from Julien, are the nosegear leg is very scalelike and as such is quite fragile. If I built it again, I might try to get a metal pin into the leg somehow. NigeB

No. 8 arrow markings are a bit of a minefield. ‘Cold War Shield’ quotes ‘ …sand yellow upper, thin blue dividing stripe and red lower….’ . This is normally my go to reference book when encountering anomalies. Decal sheets are varied, some (surprisingly Modeldecal) having red stripe and blue lower and others correctly blue centre. SAM MDF 8 even has an incorrect illustration of the arrow. If in fact it transpires that some aircraft did indeed have the colours reversed then that would obviously need a bit more ferreting…. The colour shot linked above seems a fairly rare example of an 8 a/c, most being monochrome.

The photo is definitely EE528 which was an early F.4 with long span wings and which had a short life of just two years before being written off. The model may perhaps not feature this aircraft.

Fair comment SJ and not wishing to be negative myself, I can see that most of the comments are probably attributable to frustration. As for myself, I have a bit of a fearful thought that sales of the kit might not be what will be needed to recoup the investment and could jeopardise future unusual projects from Revell.

Eduard did tell me, a while back, that they did have it on their wish list but money and other projects were above it on their plan.

Is the Pope Catholic ?

Britjet quoted the much missed Maintrack range but as far as my experiences go, they are pretty much unobtainable now, the Supermarine 535 and Gloster G.42 Gormless being mega-unobtainable. I missed out on one of the latter a year or two back which went for over £100 which is a lot for a vacform kit. Olimp Pro-resin did make a good start on the ex Maintrack range, converting them to resin kits but I think they are currently in hiatus, at least, I’ve not seen anything new for quite some time. They had the Gloster G.42 listed as a future project but there you go, darn it. For me, any of those Maintrack kits would be smashing apart from doubling up on those now done by others since. Cheers. Nige

It was a bit tongue in cheek there ref the 1/48 but any Jav parts are welcome because they are a bit few and far between. Anyway, I would definitely take three cockpit sets in 1/72, if that suits you. Thanks v much. Cheers, Nige

Me too, in fact a 1/48 version could also be attractive. Cheers, N

After all this work Tony, how much harder would it be to produce a new complete airframe to go with your lovely new parts ? What was that saying ? Jack up the windscreen etc….. Nige. A happy recipient of several of these highly recommended updates.

Welcome Steve, quite a few of us on here are returnees like yourself and you are not alone in wallowing in ancient plastic. Some of us do ancient paints too, plenty of Humbrol Authentics still in my cupboard. Give us a wave over the water, here in Freshwater… Nige

Probably not much in the way of help here but, I have seen or heard of two methods used with apparent success, the first is possibly the one you tried : 1. When dry, getting under the edge of the film with a sharp blade and teasing the whole thing away. 2. This is another method which someone building an Arma Hobby kit used - placing Tamiya tape over the whole decal and using that to remove the film, he expressed surprise that the decals …’behaved like the new Eduard ones…’. This last method would demand some confidence I expect. Unfortunately, I can’t recall where I read this last one but it was very recently. As a last resort, have you tried emailing Eduard ? They are normally quite helpful (unless you are asking for a PR Spit, in which case not !). Good luck anyway, Nige

Still unable to order online from the UK as before with the main kit. If Hannants don’t get it in stock then it will be hard. Is it the Brexit/VAT thing perhaps ?

Still using mine too, my ‘go to’ particularly for numbers/letters. Some of my purchases are now around 50 years old, always reliable still. As an aside, I also used Almarks rub down sets too, the roundels were great at the time because no carrier film etc. Sadly, they deteriorated years ago and wouldn’t come off the backing sheet because the glue had dried out. Have a sheet of Maintrack 1/48 F.4 decals too with the same issue. Never worked out a way of using them unless anyone can help there.

One here too please…

Two kits, one small dimple in the clear portion, just aft of the port fwd canopy frame on one of my early canopies. Overall a pretty impressive kit and possibly a new high for the company. First time I’ve seen aileron options in a Meteor kit and I’ve built them all . Well done indeed.

ModelArt 72-002 has decals for a couple of FAA TT.20 a/c. One ( WM159/040 Hurn) in ‘Golden Yellow BS381C-356’ and the other (WD592/HF/864 Hal Far) in ‘Green Dayglo’, sadly no BS or other refs given.