Ralph

Superb! What are your plans for the other 2 x-wing dioramas?

A bit of an esoteric question, but does anyone know of anyone has done or is planning to do tranche 3 Typhoon fuselage cft attachment points? Would be v.interested in 1/72 and 1/48 versions! Ralph

Evening all, Another addition to my Battle of Britain collection. I have Mk1 Spitfires as you might expect, but to date not a MkII, which only came on stream relatively late on. Its been v.interesting finding out about their service introduction. There's very little on the way of in service BoB photos which doesn't help but I did find info about P7350 of BoBMF fame. She flew during early September (including the 15th September aka BoB day) with 266 Sqn as UO*T. I had an Airfix Mk2 complete with the necessary Rotol prop and the Coffman starter bulge, and plenty of Xtradecal codes and serials...the only other additions were a Yahu panel and etched seatbelts. Painted with Tamiya sky and and RAF green with Xtracrylix dark earth. I also used masks for the camo pattern...a bit of a cheat but a good result! Anyhow, here she is, as she was 83 years ago!

Great pics of my fave Eagle wing!

Some of my formative memories as a young adult was going to college in London in 1989, and in particular the dramatic events of the first Gulf War in 1990/1. The images of the planes on the news every night is a lasting memory. Also very big at the time were the various characters of the Infamous Viz magazine including...Johnny Fartpants! Have long wanted to make a Desert Cat, and having acquired the Modeldecal sheet from 1991, with lots of the nose art seen on many RAF airframes, some inspired by Viz. It''s only taken me 3 decades to get around to it! So, here is...an Italeri 1/72 Jaguar with resin EJ seat, Master pitot, Flightparh CRV 7 pods, Airgraphics fuel tank, flare dispensers and ECM pod. Its a toss up between this and the Hasegawa Jaguar...I will say this for the Italeri kit- at least they got the windscreen frame lines right. Thoroughly enjoyed the kit and the project as a whole. I finished it in Tamiya xf78 deck tan, which to my eye is dead match for the desert pink ARTF finish. Its precisely the same shade as the Xtracrylix desert pink, but much easier to apply. And despite the decals being 30 years old, they worked perfectly! Honk!

Fab. Am building this model myself, albeit at thd other end of its career...a great kit, and one thst must have lights years ahead of its time when it was released in 1979!

Excellent as always!

This is most excellent...a man after my own heart! I've just posted my Tattoine x-wing diorama over at the diorama section- we've used v.similar concepts in the construction! Ralph

Evening all, after about a year or so I have finally finished my rather non-canon X-wing Forward Operating Location diorama. Loved doing this; built from junk, spare parts and odds and ends, this took me back to halcyon days as a boy making entire worlds from cereal boxes and my Star Wars figures. The build thread is here if anyone's interested and the RFI for the X-Wing is here Basically, the idea is that the New Republic are having to work hard to stabilise the Outer Rim from both crime cartels and Imperial remnants about 5 years after the Battle of Endor, and concurrent with the Mandalorian series. I wanted to get away from just another Red squadron x-wing, and had enormous fun with purple to create a new Amythyst Squadron! Here you can see typical Tattoine structures, dotted with space junk and vaporators; two pilots are puzzling out the new set of orders, whilst the other is remonstrating with a recalcitrant mine clearing droid. I'd love to have found some 1/72 Jawas and other Star Wads races to have dotted around, but alas not to be! Hope you enjoy this completely self indulgent visit to my childhood! This is the Way. Ralph

Slightly 'non-canon'(!), this is my 1/72 Bandai x-wing done in 'Amythyst Squadron' marks! Great kit and great fun! My premise is that it is a squadron created after the Return of the Jedi to chase down the remnants of Empire and for policing the Outer Rim- concurrent with the Mandalorian.It's actually going to go on a scratchbuilt Tatooine diorama, where I've built a putative Forward Operating Location a la the Harriet and A10 'hides' in Germany during the 80s-I'm going to post pics of that completed in the RFI diorama section. Anyway, done in Tamiya paints (xf80 for the grey, xf16 for the purple) and some of the kit's basic markings. I also added some scorch marks from the battle damaged decals I got with my Polar Lights refit Enterprise A, which was very reminiscent of the battle damaged stickers I got with my treasured Palitoy x-wing 40 years ago. This is the Way!

All very interesting! Thanks for the photos, contributions and research -much appreciated! The last post os v.interesting in as much there are demonstrable, photo evidenced exceptions to the rule even within the batch/block starting with P3750- e.g. P7375 which should in the B scheme but is actually in the A scheme! Also interesting to see the differences in the Castle Brom A scheme. I think on balance I will go with the CB A scheme on the basis that P7350 was -conveniently- at the start of the batch that apparently started with even numbers in the A scheme so on balance the most likely. Thanks all- most excellent!

Hallo all, Am currently building a model of the famous P7350 ( of movie and BBMF fame) as she would have appeared in Sept 1940 when she joined 266 Sqn as UO*T. Logic would suggest that she would be in the A scheme camo pattern as she is an even serial number, but I also know that wasn't always the case- it was also dependant, as I understand on whatever serial that happened to start a production batch. As it happens, there is a rare pic of a 266 sqn mk2 P7375 that happens to be an odd serial number done in the A scheme. Counting back alternately leads to P7350 -only 25 airframes away- to having a a B scheme. What is the general opinion on this? Anyone have anything definitive in this regard? Would be grateful for any thoughts. Ralph

Great model! Am on the final legs of doing the self same kit in Desert Storm markings!

Having posted a couple of in-flight Typhoons on Hasegawa's stands, so know what you mean! Funny enough, am about to post an Airfix Lightning F2 and a Hasegawa F35B in 617 sqn marks in very much the same way as you have described. I've used the cheap and cheerful Airfix twin stand that I think you can get separately from the Dogfight Doubles kits that Airfix recently did. HTH, Ralph

I'd be interested in Qatari, Omani and up to date Saudi decals as well!

Brilliant pictures ax ever. I've finally twigged what these photo installments remind me if...they're like a continuation of the Osprey Superbase series from the very late 80s! Thanks for posting and would love to see more!

Latest off the line, and my first Light Gull Grey over White Navy plane! Tamiya's 1/72 'Ford' is a gem of a kit- couldn't fault its looks nor fit! I went for the Cut Then Add Skyray decal sheet because of the Vf74 red lightning bolt and tan radome, but I could be tempted to build another just to use the Vf213 blue and white checkerboard markings! Anyway OOB aside from that; Tamiya white for the underside and AK interactive for the LGG. Ralph

Hasegawa without a shadow of a doubt!

Hasegawa all the way. In many respects, the 2016 Revell isn't as good as the 2007(?) tooling, and it perpetuates the key error that all Revell kits of the Typhoon (irrespective of scale) have- the canopy/windscreen error. Somehow, Revell have the windscreen too long and the canopy too short, and it gives any of their kits a raised eyebrow look that is unmissable once seen, and very difficult to fix. Overall, it's simply a much better kit. Price wise, you can pick up Hasegawa's kit for about £30 on ebay on a good day, and that's not much more than the Revell kit now. Plus, you get all the pylons (including the elusive centreline pylon in the kit, and Brimstones and the latest RAF helmet for the very good pilot figure. The draw backs of the Hasegawa kit are that it is really only designed to be in flight(not a problem for me -I've gone back to my child hood in that regard) because it only gives closed exhausts (only seen so in the air) and the inside of the main gear doors are wrong. The Stormshadows are very odd...original Revell kit for those.You can get the Reskit open exhausts, which are very good, if you need to do it on the ground. Don't forget to lower the intake doors as well-easy to do. The ejection seat is basic, and has come in for criticism but surprisingly accurate in basic shape; I add a bit of wire and plastic rod for details, and it can be made to look as good as an aftermarket seat-not that you can get a mk16 these anymore since Pavla closed! It can also be built without recourse to anything beyond minimal filling with care. Hope that helps! Ralph

Afternoon all, I'm a frequent visitor to the Fighter Control website, particularly the Current Military photography section. Recently, a photographer posted some pictures fro Red Flag 23-1, where 2 squadron was participating. The pictures showed a mix of unmarked and marked up machines, with a few very handy pics of ZK333. Hopefully this link is OK...if not, will of course remove it. https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=229067 This showed full 2 sqn markings which look very smart against the Barley Grey but crucially no crew names. These are big enough to be legible in 1/72, but too small to be made up from individual letters! I cracked open a Hasegawa Typhoon from the stash and got cracking. The load out was relatively simple; I used the kit Asraam, Freight Dog's RAF style Litening pod and modified a Hasegawa weapon set TACTs range pod into the P5 version with three antenna sprouting from the nose of the pod. These I fabricated from plastic rod into holes drilled into the front of the pod.The Typhoon needs these ballasted as well so I made these from foil straps wound around the body. Really rather pleased with it. Main camo was Tamiya XF19- my favourite Barley (or Camo Grey in modern parlance) with dielectric areas in AK interactive RAF Camo Grey for contrast. The fin was a darker mixed grey, with intakes being Tamiya xf80 for Light Aircraft Grey. Tamiya's paints are utterly predictable and consistent in my experience, tho AK's are also gaining in my estimation. Decals were a mix of kit decals for stencils and Xtradecals for the Squadron markings and serials. I had to employ some judicious cutting for the serials, but luckily had enough threes to do everything! Hasegawa's decals performed flawlessly; I know many people moan about them, but Japanese decals are designed to be used with very hot water....do that and they work very well... So...another, very contemporary RAF Typhoon for the cabinet. Really enjoyed this; a great fitting kit, and easily the most accurate Typhoon out there. Highly recommended. What I would really like is an up to date set of decals for current RAF typhoons and indeed export airforces, most especially the current Falkland 1435 Flt marks-come on Xtradecal! Also some 3d printed CFT attachment points for Tranche 3 machines; again, I'm surprised that an aftermarket company like Airgraphics hasn't done these. In any case, pics.

Not a bad idea!

Fantastic. Would love to see more pics. This is my favourite period of aviation history and funnily enough have something similar planned in 1/72...but with both pilots Spitfires. Am assuming 1/48? Would be interested to know which kit. The weathering looks spot on for a plane that would have been only a few weeks old...there is a real tendency to over weather aircraft when most of the time it just ain't so!

Having done a lot of RAF models in Barley Grey/Camo grey, I keep coming back to Tamiya XF19 as the best scale Barley Grey. Other brands-even if they are labelled as such- are simply too dark and in some cases too blue. It also had the advantage of spraying beautifully and consistently, and not having to mix it. Hth. Ralph

Excellent! The paint job is perfect- can I ask what paint you used for the Have Glass and the contrasting radome/intake/fin areas? It looks spot on!

Work has rather interrupted things, but a relaxing Saturday, hits of the 80s and a wee dram of something to lubricate the fine motor skills(!) and a bit of progress! I've added a small piece of clear plastic for the reflector sight, and secured the Falcon windscreen with woodglue. An absolutely perfect fit- the first time ever with a vacform! I also found a piece of old photoetch which I've used to dress up the radiator area before attaching the wings...beginning to come together! You can also see the attempt to dress up the wheel wells. I've also made a start on the props- a bit of cleaning up to do there, and drilled out holes for the intakes either side of the props. There'll be a bit of spot filling here and there, and I'll cut off the gun camera box which Airfix have in the wrong place. I'll forgive them that! Looking ahead, I'm going to have to do something about the cannon...luckily I have spare early style cannon from an Arma Hurri IIc kit, so that's sorted!