mick b

Classic indeed, remember my dad making it for me in FAA colours with working folding wings! Mike

Yeah far too subtle for me so let’s clarify that it was the first monoplane single seat torpedo bomber if being pedantic.

What are you questioning? That the concept was obsolete or that it was the first single seat torpedo bomber which it was? Mike

I think you’ll find coastal kits and coastal craft models are totally separate companies... Mike

Cheers Troy much appreciated Mike

I used it on my Sea Hornet some years ago and it didn’t require a black base. It has quite a subtle metallic finish to it and it sprayed very nicely. My poor lighting doesn’t do the colour justice. Mike

Superb stuff Nanond, flawless Mike

So just to clarify; the plastic insert shown in the nose is 2mm and the tail 1.5mm? Agreed, the SH XII is a lovely kit despite its flaws. Mike

I bought their BE2c some years ago and was somewhat disappointed by the saggy underside to the wings between the ribs, wish I had kept my Aeroclub one and maybe combined the two for a better result? Mike

It looks like the tracks are so taut between the first and last bogey that there isn’t enough weight as yet in the hull for the middle set to touch the tracks. Excellent work though so far. Mike.

I meant with regards future options if they go down that route as has been alluded to on here

That’s quite a noticeable step on the nose transparency to fuselage join so maybe Special Hobby got it right after all! Mike

It’s a pity Airfix didn’t concentrate on this rather than the rehash of the Vulcan as the big reveal at Telford as I sense far more are excited over this and appeals to other countries too ie the Aussies Mike

In the Osprey Publishing title No 617 Dambuster Sqn a section covers the final days of the converted Lancs together with post war (1947) photos of Gibson’s, Martin’s and Maltbys dam raid aircraft still in dam configuration as they were used to dispose of leftover mines which were deemed unsafe and these machines were the only ones capable of dropping the mines in the sea, it was known as Operation Guzzle as Seahawk says and this was carried out in 46. Apparently they were in need of ‘refurbishment’ as engines were knackered etc. When pictured in 47 they carried the codes YF in white and white serial under the wings. In a Dambusters special produced for WH.Smith by Clive Rowley ex BBMF back in 2013 he provides a page of the individual histories of all 23 Type 464 and I think this has been reprinted of late? Mike

In Eric Brown’s From The Cockpit on the Firebrand there are two images of the cockpit of an early Sabre engined Firebrand and they show mostly black interior but I guess it may have changed by the later models. In another chapter one of the pilots mentioned a ‘big black shoebox’ of switches on the Port side but again I suppose this could still be in a grey green cockpit. It would be interesting to see what Roy Sutherland and co suggest for their forthcoming 48th model as he usually knows his stuff? Mike