Sten Ekedahl

A very close friend of mine is an ex Rock Ape (RAF Regiment), No 2 Field squadron. We were discussing this landing method just the other day. He had been subjected to it only once, but he said it was the most scary thing he had ever experienced! Jumping from an Abert (or Argosy or Hastings or Beverly) was a piece of cake compared to that. Personally I saw a Khe Sanh landing demonstrated at either Farnborough (82), Greenham Common (83) or Fairford (89). Glad I wasn't onboard! Another friend of mine built Snoopy 35 years ago using the Airmodel conversion kit, although IIRC it was called Pinocchio back then. Personally I would have liked to see you start with 25th anniversary aircraft since that is a planned future project of mine.

The Israeli Air Force celebrated the last flight of their Skyhawks Sunday December 13, after 47 years of service.

None of the Swedish Venoms has been airworthy for many decades AFIK.

Thanks for the head up. I have so far only examined my kit, trying to chose a suitable level of ambition for my build. The only aftermarket stuff I have decided on so far, are the Eduard pre-cut paint masks, and substituting the rear turret gun barrels with brass ones from Master. I might invest in the Eduard PE set, but haven't made up my mind about that yet. But what I DO want, is to substitute the Vickers MG in the front turret. However I haven't been able to find any aftermarket one. Does it exist? If so, I would appreciate if someone can point me in the right direction. TIA

And this is what it looked like in the Swedish Air Force:

If you have further questions, I would recommend posting them at the IPMS Stockholm forum, http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/ There are several modellers there who know SwAF aircraft much better than I do (my main interest is the RAF & RN) despite having served in the air force for 35 years. It's perfectly OK to use English on the forum, and most of the guys will gladly help you out if they can.

Sorry for not answering earlier. Yes, Svensk Flygtjänst is a civilian company, and all their aircraft were/are under civilian register, e.g. Fireflies, Skyraiders (ex-RN), Meteors, Venoms, Mu-2. They had four Venoms, all ex-RSwAF. Have only been able to locate one very small photo of one of them on the net.

Karlström's books with drawings, although good for general reference, are not known for their accuracy. In fact among Swedish modellers they are often referred to as "The Karlström comic books".

All quiet here. Not recovered from SMW yet? Last time I was there, 09, the international lunch on Sunday created a slight need for recovery time...

One of those yellow aircraft is preserved at the Swedish Air Force Museum at Linköping. However it is now repainted in Air Force colours as a J 33 from F 1 wing at Västerås (the only unit equiped with Venoms in Sweden).

Small problem. When I saw the title of this thread, I thought SWMBO had found out how much money you had spent at Telford.

Look forward to following this. Got the Paragon conversion set in my stash. Will use on a second generation Airfix Lancaster kit, for which it was actually intended. Saw one of those built up a Telford some ten(?) years ago.

Although Italian aircraft and the SCW is not my normal area of interest, I really enjoyed following this thread. Some quite impressive workmanship displayed, and a splendid model as the result. Congrats!

These, and previous, NF.13 photos, have finally solved the mystery of the shape of those two intakes/heat exchangers for me too. Wish I had known this (and the correct nose length) when I built my 60 Sqn NF.14 many years ago. But these photos also made me raise my eyebrows. In a list of the errors on the Matchbox kit, it states that there should be holes under the wings for the spent shell chutes, and not the protrusions molded on the kit wings. But these two photos, and a few others seem to indicate that Matchbox was right after all! Another interesting detail is the antenna sticking out from under the port engine nacelle. Haven't noticed that one previously. And BTW, Wikipedia gives the incorrect nose length for the NF.14.

Yes there are small problems, such as sink marks - some of them rather big (e.g.Blenheim top wings over the flaps) - and faint mold lines in most canopies. However most of these can be either easily fixed or overlooked. Considering the current low prices of Airfix kits, I can live with this. But what I DON'T accept is the current total failure of their previously excellent spare part service! This year I have requested spare parts twice because of defects,. On both occations I promptly recieved an answer saying that these parts weren't currently available, but would be sent as soon as they became available. As of today I have been waiting in vain for a Defiant turret for eight months, and for a Blenheim IV canopy for three months. A couple of reminders have not even been answered.This is the biggest quality issue for Airfix right now!

To my eye the load under the central fuselage is the EMI recce pod, and not the SUU-23 gun pod. After all, this is a 41 Sqn. aircraft so a recce pod is normal.

Ah the memories! I built this kit some time back in the 1980's. It was a h*ll of a jobb and at the limit of my skills at the time. The completely bare cockpit was filled with the excellent Cooper Details resin cockpit set, still one of the best cockpit sets for any Spitfire. But AFAIK it is unfortunately not available any more. In the end the result turned out to be a very good Spitfire model, even appreciated by the judges at a couple of shows at the time.

Still waiting for a new turret for my Defiant (flow lines and short shot) since February, and a new canopy for the Blenheim IV (air bubble inside the plastic) since July.

Saw several of the Sword 1/72 kits at my LHS today.

Somewhere deep in my stash I have an Asian no-name kit of the JP3 (bought some 25-30 years ago) that is either a direct (pirate) copy of the old Airfix kit, or made from the Airfix moulds.

Venom FB.4!!!!!!

A tip I picked up from John Adams a long time ago, is to hold the canopy in place and feed liquid glue with a brush around the edges. It won't attach the canopy, but once the glue has dried, it has "etched" a grove where the canopy will sit. Then fix it in position with white glue or, which I prefere, Humbrol Clearfix.

Bare metal foil, or ordinary kitchen alu foil attached with Micro Metal foil adhesive or rubber cement, is also another very good masking method that I sometims use. Burnish down with a tooth pick and then cut along the frames with a new #11 scalpel blade and lift off the excess.

And the Pavla resin parts for the engines are well worth adding. Maybe also the Pavla resin cockpit: Both these sets will greatly improve some of the weakest areas on this kit. After all, the kit is some 45 years old!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from a far flung corner of my memory, I think I can hear a faint voice saying that it was also used on the Seafire III.