Linden Hill

Thank you. I would take it to Firbeck but unfortunately the Lizzie and its constructor are currently residing in the Hudson Valley in New York State, USA!

This was something of a personal project for me. Firbeck, in the old West Riding of Yorkshire, was the closest WWII airfield to where I grew up and I’d often visited the old museum close by (now relocated to and expanded at Doncaster Aeroventure) and the excellent Black Lion pub in the village. About 25 years ago there used to hang above the fireplace in the Black Lion a large painting of ZR.F taking off from the old grass airstrip and since then I vowed to myself that one day I’d build a decent model of that Lysander. The advent of both the new Airfix kit and the superlative Wingleader book on the Lysander gave me all the impetus I needed to get started. The Wingleader book includes two full-page photos of ZR.F taken at Firbeck, although the location is not mentioned in the text (PP. 34-5). The copse in the background on page 35 is still identifiable today. The new Airfix kit is almost vice-free and an absolute pleasure to build. I only needed a little filler for the engine cowling and the horizontal panel line just in front of the windscreen. I did add a couple of extra details (e.g. metal wire for the aerial masts) and the 613 squadron codes + fin flashes came from an old Eduard kit in the stash. ZR.F was delivered to Firbeck on March 2, 1941. The squadron conducted tactical reconnaissance missions (anti-invasion) over the North Sea coast, training and gunnery flights, and gas trials close to the unfortunate burghers of Pocklington. 613 Sqn. seems to have departed Firbeck for Doncaster by mid-August and began converting to the Tomahawk Mk. II. All in all, research and building time very well spent!

I used our forthcoming Linden Hill Decals sheet LHD48042 with Eduard kit 1/48 Su-25K Nr. 11176. Red 17 was one of 10 Su-25s purchased by Armenia from Slovakia in 2004. Prior to delivery the aircraft were overhauled and repainted in Trenčín. 'Red 17' took on an increasingly weathered appearance. The latest footage dates to 2020 when the tail art had almost completely disappeared with just the white undercoat remaining. It's not known whether she survived the second NKR war. Azerbaijan claimed to have shot down at least two Armenian Su-25s. The Eduard kit itself is Zvezda plastic, which is trying in places. The undercarriage legs are too flimsy, and the canopy pieces were misshapen, which not even a bath of hot water could rectify. Eduard give you the necessary parts to backdate the Zvezda kit to a Su-25K. The kit decals also give you the required Slovak stenciling and the original Slovak tail and intake artwork. I used the Quinta interior, which is not strictly a K variant but I won't tell anyone if you won't.

If you can wait another 3/4 weeks, we (Linden Hill Decals) have a new sheet ready to go featuring Mi-24Ps from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan both with interesting unit badges. The sheets are already printed, we're just finishing photo layouts for the instruction booklets.

AKAN have had Dark Admiralty Grey in their UK assortment for a few years. SKU is 60057.

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AH40007?result-token=AtLtm

Might these be of interest?

Unfortunately everything is now sealed up in the display case. Sorry. I'll try to remember to take more shots as and when I unseal the time capsule. Only a masochist would attempt the Dominie, though!

A bit of a nostalgia trip for me, having grown up a few miles from RAF Finningley. Kits are the Airfix Vulcan and Dominie, plus the Amodel Jetstream. They represent Finningley residents from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The Airfix Vulcan and Amodel Jetsream were fun to build. I just finished the Airfix Dominie and that was less fun. The tooling is from 1968 and it's showing its age. At least the 'Vintage Classics' release has a new decal sheet, which is useful. I shifted the wing fences outboard to the correct position, having measured out the wings on the Dominie at Doncaster Aeroventure on my last UK visit. Sad, I know, but my wife and daughter went to the spa that day... I will attempt another Dominie if Sword get round to releasing a new kit!

I believe XE680 with the Rough Diamonds dayglo scheme crashed around 1970. If I'm not mistaken, the Harley lights weren't fitted to GA.11s until 1972/3 so XE680 would have featured the standard F4 nose. I suspect that's why Airfix went with a Blue Herons GA.11: you can actually use the Harley light nose.

Finnish Hornet finished! 1/48 scale Kinetic kit with Quinta cockpit, Reskit wheels and Modelmaker decals. You really need the Modelmaker decals for any FI F/A-18C as they provide the correct Finnish-language stencils. Some images also include an Italeri Finnish Hawk Mk. 51A which I built last year.

They moved quite a distance (possibly not in Canadian terms) and are now at home in the Maritimes. All is well and patience is a virtue...

Kiitos! Since it soon became apparent that you wouldn't be able to see much with the canopy closed, I superimposed some Airscale VDUs on top of the old analog cockpit decals. Jyrki Laukkanen's book on Finnish Hawks was indispensable for the details. The upgraded Mk. 51A cockpit is supposed to resemble that of the FI F-18s. As previously mentioned, you end up not being able to see any of that detail once the canopy is shut!

1/48 scale Italeri Hawk converted to Finnish Mk. 51A (60 series wings, Finnish standard antenna, glass cockpit).

That would make sense. It appears the badges were applied for the last Aviadarts exercise (2019?).

At this stage I believe only Red 09 has the 'Zhetysu Snow Leopards' emblems. Unfortunately the instructions in the new GWH Su-30SM kit show the badge on the speed brake upside down.

'Distribution' is a nebulous term and it has nothing to do with paid (or indeed non-paid) circulation. Whatever is distributed through third parties can also be sent back if it doesn't sell. Not one mention of paid circulation in the rate card, let alone ABC audited paid circulation. As previous posters have also noted, the rate card stats aren't dated so they could be 10 or more years old.

Would any kind souls out there point me towards a set of plans showing the revised Hawk 60 series wing fence layout. 1/48 scale would be a bonus but not essential. I'm looking to scratch build the three (six total) additional inner fences on a re-winged Finnish Hawk Mk. 51A. Thanks in advance.

I published my first book this week! It will be available from resellers in the UK/Europe soon.

Special Hobby Sunderland GR. 5 built to test my new decals LHD72039 'Arctic Sunderlands' (they work!). This is PP115 'Charlie' of 201 Sqn, RAF. In August 1953 'Charlie' was almost lost in a glacial lake in northern Greenland after being holed below the waterline. Apologies for the hurried sloppy photosession.

Coming soon, in case anyone's interested... https://www.lindenhillimports.com/lhi-blog/coming-soon#/

Happy Days! Live next to a military airfield in Eastern Friesland dating back to WWII, complain about the noise!

Thank you. This is one Aircam issue I had not seen. The photos strongly imply that while the 210 squadron codes were Medium Sea Grey, the serials were all black.

Seeking confirmation on some details for a forthcoming project. In the era of the Medium Sea Grey over White camo scheme can one assume the following? 1. Both the fuselage serial and code numbers were grey, not red (underwing serial black) 2. White spinners 3. No 210 badge to port underneath the cockpit. I'm 99% certain that this is the case but wanted to make a final check! Thanks in advance.

Sergey Yakhontov (one of the good guys) was the owner of Scale Bureau Models but he did not design the kits and has since sold SB. The designer is Roman Bukhalov, who also runs Komplekt Zip and AZ Resin.