Johnson

An important detail. Looks the bizz! I think I may have to add (something like that) for my next 1/72 effort. But also reveals some absolutely stunning (and very clean - my pics always highlight the dust) work. Great work Anthony.

Thanks for your kind words Andy, but I wasn't quite accurate in my choice of words (I've edited my post above). I cut strips of white decal which although fragile weren't too difficult to separate and position on the canopy. But I'm being pretty careful with it as I don't think it would take much to knock them off. I meant to add, I used some Microsol on the 'RESCUE' decal on the canopy and it fogged the Klear slightly! Now hidden by the white stripes, but lesson learned, Microsol and Klear don't mix. The top Micro Detonation Cord could do with a bit of paint, probably grey as it isn't as pronounced in photos as the white around the outside. But I know I couldn't paint that raised detail at the top of the canopy. I think it will have to say as it is unless someone has a brilliant suggestion. Cheers,

It's been ages since I updated this build, having been distracted by the F-15 GB which was fun but building the Hasegawa F-15C Eagle was much more of a challenge than I'd anticipated. Anyway, I was very glad and somewhat relieved to get back to this very nice kit. Canopy. Possibly because it was a cheap ebay purchase, the canopy was damaged and was going to need a bit of work. In addition to the obvious damage above, the canopy had a mould line and it looked a bit like a frosted glass window that you might put in your bathroom. The only thing for it was a rub down with Micromesh inside and out (avoiding the moulded MDC in the top) and then a dip in Klear (or Johnson's 'pledge revive it' which I'd read here on BM is the same stuff). I'd not tried this before and the result was better than I'd hoped for; I should have taken a pic from the other side where the damage was, but the 'klear' was great, giving a lovely sparkling finish and removing 90% of the evidence of damage. I dipped the canopy after painting the EDSG framing as I wasn't sure what affect enamel paint would have on the klear, which is essentially an acrylic varnish. I wanted white lines inside the frame, more MDC I think. These are very prominent in photos of Harriers. I considered painting them but reckoned that I'd struggle to achieve a consistent line and was worried that I'd mess up a canopy that I'd worked hard on recovering. In the end I got a new 10A scalpel blade and cut very thin strips of white decal (D-Day stripes from an old Hasegawa P-51B kit). I was happy with the results; The semi-circular item is the rear face of the canopy, scratch built, with the box that controls (I think) detonation of the MDC during ejection. It really needs a yellow stencil 'EXPLOSIVE CANOPY DETONATOR BENEATH'. Not yet sure if I can replicate this, but I may give it a try. Decals; The only good thing about the Airfix Sea Harrier kit are the decals, worth buying just for them. Typical modern Airfix; thin, go down fine, well researched, excellent printing and registration. Lots of stencils to keep me busy and ruin my eyesight. Here I must give thanks to Nick Greenall* @NG899 and his fellow SIG modeller Richard who donated me the roundel blue 16 inches high side number 004 and airbrake number 4 and ZA175 codes so that I could model the Sea Harrier flown by 801 Naval Air Squadron's CO, Lt Cdr ‘Sharkey’ Ward (and other 801 NAS pilots). Richard also sent me roundels but the bulge in the fuselage was too much for the side decals which broke up, something Xtradecal roundels are prone too, a result of the number of layers of brittle paint. I fell back on the Airfix roundels which were fine and possibly a slightly better colour red. In hindsight (don't you hate it) I should have seperated the 0 0 a bit, but at the time I was completely focused on trying to get the 004 correctly aligned. There's always going to be something! * Nick has been a great source of Harrier information and I'm deeply indebted to him! Lots still to do. But I really must finish this in the 40th anniversary year! Cheers,

I'm not surprised. That's quite a gap. Has to be Airfix.

I thought a low res copy would be OK seeing as their instructions are freely available to download, but I was wrong. Sorry for any hassle.

I'm sure the pilot can cope! Looks super!!! Future project?

From Hannants ‘Future Releases’ email this morning: Airfix Aircraft kits (injection) AX17001 1:24 EXPECTED ANY DAY! Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc Due Early December 2022

Hi Chris, I'd probably opt for same as the underside, PRU blue, which I'm guessing they are in the b&w photo of AA797 below. Sandy Gunn seated in AA797 prior to his mission to Trondheim on the morning of the 19th February 1942. I think this is the only known photo of AA810, which has been colourised. It shows Tommy Tomlinson returning to RAF Wick in AA810 on 29 Jan 42 following a successful 5 hour mission to Trondheim to photograph the Tirpitz and Scheer. Here's the b&w original; Not silver I think, though the legs look like they might be? @Troy Smith is very good at colour interpretation. I wonder if he's around? I ordered my copy of December's Aeroplane Monthly here: https://shop.keypublishing.com/collections/aeroplane-monthly Cheers,

Nice paint job on the V1 Adrian. Mine were always black... well, that's what the illustration showed. I'm on a bit of a catch up here, having thought you'd finished ages ago. Looking forward to the next installment of one of my favourite Spitfires.

Hi Chris, I see that AA810 is featured in this months Aeroplane Monthly magazine; Dunno if its any good, but ordered a copy online as its post free. The AA810 FB page is also worth a look, lots of good photos; https://www.facebook.com/SpitfireAA810 Cheers,

I'd like to build the Sword Spitfire F XIVE and use the Techmod decals included for Johnnie Johnson's MV268/JEJ as flown in June 1945. I'm confused about some aspects of the later Griffon powered Mk.XIVs, I've done searches on BM, but no luck. So a few questions about details; Exhausts? Round or fishtail? Edgar said round were introduced in 1946, but I'm sure I've seen wartime photos of Mk.XIVs with round ones. Cannons? Early tapered ones or the later bulbus (ogival) shaped ones? Wheels? 3 or 4 spokes? Any advice and guidance gratefully received.

The cockpit looks excellent and at 1/48 I think worth it, even with the canopy closed. They do look quite large and thick but I'm sure with a bit of adjustment and the canopy framing on they will look OK. For my 1/72 Airfix PR.XIX I used the Rob Taurus canopy which was great. But I see from the above that it should have a front flat screen and both the 1/72 and 1/48 are rounded. Cheers,

Nope. But as long as it's under the... Christmas Tree I'll be happy! (memories of 1970)

That may be where I've been going wrong. I used a single coat of hair spray. I'll do some experiments, thanks Craig.

Fantastic pair of Mustangs Steve, really excellent! I made the Academy P-51B in the Mustang STGB a few years back and thought that it was an excellent kit, very enjoyable build. And what a great Ju 52! I saw one flying near Heathrow in about 1987 (a while ago) and thought I was seeing things! A plane restored in Germany I think, not sure where it is now.

Excellent work Craig, love the cockpit! So much detail. The weathering on the bomb casing is superb. Really good. May I ask, what 'chipping solution' you used? This is a skill I'd like to learn but have never had much success with. Cheers,

This came up on the Vulcans, Victors & Valiants FB page; Project 698 what could have been Circa 1947 in 1/72 but other scales available. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10220248242536292&set=gm.3356589757926180&idorvanity=1478294445755730 and this; Two of our 1/48th 3d printed models valiant to follow in 2023 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10220248232096031&set=gm.3356588294592993&idorvanity=1478294445755730 I have no association with the makers, but thought that it might be of interest?

Excellent Mark, another Spitfire build to follow! One of my favourites too (OK, they're all great). Like @elger I built RM643/Z, but mine was the 1/72 Airfix kit. I found this thread useful at the time; Cheers,

I'm glad that you are Chris as I have the same kit in the stash. I'll be interested to follow your progress.

Very nice work in the cockpit. Airscale panels are excellent, I used theirs in my 1/24 Spitfire Mk.1a.

These are the Fundekals instructions for Johnny Plagis' ML214 / 5J-K. They confirm much of the above discussion; Fundekal sets are incredibly well researched and this set is no exception. If you want to model this plane downloading the .pdf instructions is a probably a good idea. Fundekals allow free downloading of their instructions but this set is no longer available on the Fundekals website. But I found a copy here; https://www.ultracast.ca/Fundekals-48-A07-Spitfire-Mk-IXc-ML214-Plagis-p/fun_48_a07.htm And they still have decals available for 1/48 modellers! Cheers,

Thanks Josh @JoshWilson. Looking closely, I can just see the MUSCAT decal underneath the Britmodeller logo (featured in the BM review of the kit). I certainly will now! Cheers

I'm a bit confused by the absence of the MUSCAT marking for ML214 5J-K, one of the kit's options. I put the full post in the Aircraft WW2 section (Mods, please move it if it's the wrong place). Cheers,

Airfix are offering ML214 / 5J-K flown by 126 Squadron's commander in 1944 Johnny Plagis as one of the options in their new 1/24 kit. This aircraft is much 'profiled', but there appear to be few photos of the whole plane. Here's one I found on the web; This profile is from the kit's artwork; And the kit made up from the Airfix website; (I'm not sure the 5J is in the right place if the Spitfire which Flt Lt Plagis is sitting in above is ML214). The plane is featured on the kit box; With no MUSCAT, nor the name Kay, nor his victories (but that may be to avoid having nasty symbols not allowed in some places). Here's a profile from Dr Alfred Price's book 'Late Marque Spitfire Aces 1942-45'; (low res copy for study purposes, will remove if a problem but I think I'm OK in terms of copyright law) Wikipedia seems to think it should be there; At the start of June 1944, Plagis assumed command of No. 126 (Persian Gulf) Squadron, flying Spitfire Mk IXs that had recently been moved from Malta to assist in the invasion of Normandy. Six of the squadron's planes had been purchased by the Persian Gulf Spitfire Fund, and duly named after the donating sheikdoms; Plagis's aircraft, which he chose because of the large letter "K" on its tail (echoing his sister's name), had "Muscat" painted in English and Arabic script on its side. He added to this a full rendering of "Kay" and other personal decorations.[27] I'm very tempted by this plane, not least because RAF Culmhead is in Somerset just up the road from me. Though Airfix think 126 Sqn was based at RAF Harrowbeer in Devon, oh dear, another question... So, should ML214 have MUSCAT on the fuselage? Or am I missing something obvious? Cheers,

Very nice Tony. Those early Spitfires look so good.