Jazzie

Wondering how you guys have come to this conclusion? Reason i ask is the first thing i noticed was how the windscreen was moulded but cannot tell how much fuselage is in front of the centre pillar. Arabest, Geoff.

Great to see a model finally come out of an airframe i actually worked on! Certainly be buying the boxing with G-BDKC to go with the Airfix Tiger Moth im doing as G-AHUV. All i need after that is a new tooled 1/72 Gazelle to build a 3flt machine. All the best, Geoff.

Funny you mention the Messerspit as there is a spare Vb fuselage in there. Not sure if this is related to the AZ or Sword kits so confirmation welcome, but maybe a good candidate for a nose job. Arabest, Geoff.

Thanks for that bud, I have quite a poor XII built already so one of the reasons i bought the Sword Seafire set were the spare MkXV fuselage and Vc wings. Didnt notice the strengthening strips on the early, but i did consider the late fuselage as you just need to cut off the rudder, something im sure most can replace from the spares box, along with all the other bits needed. Arabest, Geoff.

As i have a bit of a Spitfire obsession when my mojo allows, this obviously piqued my interest. When said mojo returns, i have the Sword multi Seafire kit in 1/72nd and think this may provide 2 routes to what you want. The bag with the early MkXV contains what appears to be the standard late rudder hook fuselage, and the fuselage to build the early belly A-frame hook. Is this a couple of swipes of the file away from a MkXII Spitfire fuselage? The other option is to cannibalize the cowls from the spare fuselages of the MkXV kits to graft onto a Vc or VIII of your choice. Arabest, Geoff.

Expecting that these Spitfires arrived through official post war routes and that the engineering support went with the fleet, would the required drawings or even the mod kit of parts have been supplied as part of the deal? Arabest, Geoff.

When hit with big words, i need to look up the meanings, and as i am not aware of knowing you personally or you me, i think that you are being a tad harsh to say im even a tad incredulous in this case. Being a doag unwilling to give up a bone i will give you, but i do actually see both sides of the argument in this case while others support the thinking that everything got where it needed to be, i have stories from servicemen and even a Navy Aircraft Painter that say that lack of supply issues cropped up even in peaceful times after the war. While i base what i am writing here on what i read in many threads on here, a man who i have tremendous respect for backs up the make do and mend side of the argument to the hilt! Your mention of D-Day stripes, my respected source was at Suez! I believe your Wellington example has proved my point in a way as where the fabric patch has covered a hole probably caused by AAA, the red cellulose dope has probably not fully dried for the top coat to be applied, but "it will do" for the training/photo sortie. I dont know why you have highlighted the "make do and mend" full scale repainting as i have doubts as to that getting done at front line stations with the constant flow of new airframes to replace damaged and war weary aircraft. I think everyone would accept that the miracle workers focus would be on small repairs with whatever paint slapped on to get an acceptable number of airframes back on line. Getting into replacing whole sections i would expect would trigger a Weight and Balance check, something i was involved with in the early days of my time in Light Aircraft Engineering, and its obvious if an aircraft ends up back at an MU for major repairs, one of the last tasks is checking the weight and balance. I do think you are over egging how much loosing some paint affects the CofG, and i base that on whether 200kg of baggage goes in the front or the back as is my current connection with weight and balance.

Troy, My initial comments were in reply to someones comment which i believe were about stores getting to the front line, and while paint is important, the quantities an aircraft manufacturer requires make their supply a top priority, MUs are next and front line bottom of the list as other supplies are more important. You mention 8000 ton of paint for the army, but how many Litres does that equate to? 3.15 to 7.25m? If similar quantities are supplied to the Air Ministry, that all of a sudden becomes quite small when the sheer numbers of new aircraft and repair sections being churned out are considered. Im not one that is too hung up on the difference between model paint manufacturers attempts at replicating colours, although i stopped using Hu30 a long, long time ago. There are so many things that have an effect on a real finish coat that start with what base you use, but i believe in WWII, most paints were cellulose based, and things can be starkly different through 2k, acrylic, other water based, and we of course use enamels, acrylics, lacquers, acrylic-laquers and im sure there are more on both sides!

Was it a priority though? Britmodeller is littered with paint threads where at some point along the way, anecdotes of paint supply issues crop up with mention of tins of dulux filling the gaps cropping up. While corrosion control is important, i am not sure if this was done with a war on, but if carried out, its done as sections are built and in preparing for a top coat, and lets face it, expectation of survival was kinda low! I fully expect that a manufacturer is fully stocked, an MU has adequate supply for their needs, although full section replacements would be factory painted and the front line supply trucks would be full of frankly more important supplies.

To be fair to the 41 sqn guys who painted more than just the Harrier with their special tails, they were using an auto paint that is so far removed from past technologies that there is very little difference to aviation paints these days. Im sure they also spent 95% of their effort into the preparation with their schemes wearing well through their service, unlike the Belgian Tiger F-16 that stripped its special scheme within days that nearly caused it to crash! I note the earlier comments about stores getting to the right places, but dont think paint would have been a top priority and make do and mend while listening to "dont you know there is a war on!" comes to mind. I would expect in this case that an amount of "special" mixes would be created to find the right shade which would then be batch produced under a UOR order. Not even these days do 2 batches come out the same!

Dont consider myself of the skill level of the many on here, but ive added an AZ Mohawk to my shelf and while it was used to try a new and semi-successful finishing process, i have to say its one of my better efforts. Didnt have any build issues and was worth the money. Not sure about the price remarks as the early H-75 Clear Prop kit that i think you hope spawns more variants is coming in at £20-22, and while it will probably be better than the AZ, £6-10 is too much for me.

Oh why did you have to remind me of that! 🥰 One of my very first and now have my fingers crossed!

If i am right in saying the P-80 is from a similar era, might they gauge sales from that to support a need for a release of the Thunderstreak? Might even lead to consideration of new tools of both if sales are good enough, something i will endeavour to assist with.

I need to repeat to myself that this is the wrong scale and yir mojo is in tatters, but i think i have to have this!

Built one of the Heller boxings of this, and while i found it quite a challenge and not wanting to build another, that Portuguese scheme!🤩

While i have not scrimped on the cost of the tools for what was once my day job, this is a hobby that some people like myself cannot spend a whole heap of money on. I started off with an AS-186 compressor with tank that came with an airbrush for around the £100 mark all in, and i have since bought other cheap(£15-25) airbrushes from the same line and have had no issues that i did not create for myself. I therefore recommend these to someone who is starting out with an airbrush. Arabest, Geoff.

I have this on the go having bought it the month it came out, and although i keep putting it back on the shelf, i cant remember the tail being like this. Could it be moulding issues/wear showing up over time?

Having started on 70s and 80s Airfix and Matchbox kits way back, i think the Hobby Boss is not enough of a challenge for a beginner, although i am not discounting them. If i was starting out now, it would be something cheap from Airfix, Revell and Italeri and just build them warts and all. If i made it to 5 with each one improving, i would then try and build the one i enjoyed the most again and try to improve on it. I followed this having had a several year break from building models, and each time i come back from modellers block, although this return from the block involves a GWH F-15E which i am finding a very easy build, but too expensive to be a beginners kit! Arabest, Geoff.

Good luck on the Tartan Tail, something i am reliably informed is hand masked then painted! I hope vinyl is involved somewhere along the line!

Mmmm! I just wonder if you will be releasing a dedicated Loganair boxing with the many schemes their 340s have worn. BA, Flybe and now Tartan Tails would all hit the spot for me. And if successful enough, where would you go with this range? I would love to see D.328(Scot Airways/CityJet/Loganair), various dash-8(Brymon/BA/FlyBe), ATR-42-300/500(Blue Island/Aurigny/Loganair) and Fokker 50.(VLM/CityJet) just for starters. After that, Shorts 360s, Jetstream 31 and 41, BAe 146. If there was enough demand, would 1/144 be considered along the way at some time? Stay Safe, Geoff. PS, have a requirement for a fleet of Cessna 152s so any news on when they will be available?

There was a very nice Beaufighter in RFI recently where Ocean Grey was used to represent faded DSG. I have this in mind for one of my future builds, but not sure what to use when lightening it, but would expect DSG would be used to darken it. Stay Safe, Geoff.

From someone who considers himself as an assembler rather than a modeller, i am currently building the Sword low back XIV and have had no issues whatsoever. Not even had to use much filler. Although 100% accuracy does not matter to me, i have never even considered the Fujimi and Academy kits as they just dont look the part when finished, but the Sword for me is on the money. Stay safe, Geoff.

Apologizes to Procopius as i had totally forgot about that one!☺️ Im only 12 years ahead of him as well!🤣 Stay safe, Geoff.

I mentioned above that i didnt get on that well with the SH one. As long as AZ keep up their standards, this should knock spots off the SH one.

Now that is one to look forward to! I wrestled with the SH one as well, but seeing how much i enjoy the AZ Spitfire IXs, i wait with baited breath to see where this one goes. Need someone to plug another gap in my collection with the Westland Whirlwind! Stay safe, Geoff.