fightersweep

Thanks for the reply Ian! Much appreciated. The bearings I was looking at were on eBay and the title say pin point, but the listing photo is the same as the one I posted above, along with the R30 code. Would you have an alternative to recommend? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150650473830?epid=1677755393&itmmeta=01J0JWMA88WAFTMJSFP1NW24Q8&hash=item231377cd66:g:iUoAAOSwpMZlU36A&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0GaRPp45eGW%2BGjEM4Y0U64lZTcdLz2SyEmCB1t3Nmvg32BKyNZ7FoSNbLIClt%2BTRgU4pmtt6w9Cb8r78qJ1JDU1i43TO7LmQhBiUMKxmg5k415AkA%2BSLnUXZR9zn7b9%2BgizENT0SDUI%2FzjHIRF7iyV1neM2XAj4wQIwVgzTA4NH1ssLNEC9BS2VZLb5i9LW%2BKgVNMXQAYDyCwh7VVeLpLNRolWaEOmghx5EqtODR9EucHJxnr2rH3x%2FfiIBLHDJd8h7D7i0N8Mx%2F2UbzZoN3H0E%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5yk0dyEZA Cheers! Steve

Hi all! I've started to get the model railway itch. It's been dormant since I was a kid and now needs scratched. What I have in mind is my old local line, the LT&SR during the BR era of the late 50s and early 60s, so mixed traffic with BR Standards and Fairburns aplenty. I've been looking at wagons and vans lately and decided for my mineral wagons and BR box vans I would use the old Airfix kits as a base as this seems a cheaper option. I want to replace the wheels with metal ones, so I've bought these for the box vans; I've seen that wheel bearings will be needed, so my first question is are the the bearings that I will need? Second question. I've also started on a few buildings which I'm really enjoying. Does anyone know what colours the signal boxes were painted on the LT&SR line during the BR era of the 50s and 60s? My Dad worked Purfleet and Tilbury East signal boxes (and later Upminster East) during the early 70s and I spent a lot of time there with him as a kid. Seem to remember it just being several shades of black, white, grey and grime then, but the Peter Kay books I have show the boxes painted in a two tone scheme in earlier years. Cream and crimson? Don't know. Unfortunately, the captions in his books don't include things such as colour schemes. I did think about modelling the 70s BR period on the line, but the only Class 302 I can find is £900 for a four car set. Looks lovely though. I think I've realised what an enormous can of worms I'm opening sticking a toe into this hobby. The prices are eye watering too! Love that Peco code 75 track, but why is it so expensive! Crikey! Cheers; Steve

As a Southend lad who spent a lot of time at the museum there, G-AGPG in her Ekco scheme would be pretty welcome. Prentice would also be great eventually. Remember lots of those at Southend too. Can't wait for these Ansons though. One of mine is certainly going to be WD413 as she was circa 1983.

I hope so! I'm wanting to build a 35-DL with staggered waist windows and stinger tail. I'm surprised that HK haven't done the late G yet. Seems to be a lot of demand for it.

1/32 Heinkel He 51 submitted. Would complement their very nice large scale biplane range and the potential schemes are rather nice too.

Only discovered the C1 kit yesterday (Always been slow). Duly ordered a RS2000 road car and a few sets of Recaro seats which will come in handy on my Motobitz Mexicos. I see on Facebook that he's going to do a separate "Doyle's" RS2000 boxing for the Professionals fans out there (Oh wait! That means I'll just order a second one now). Can't wait to receive it as it looks fantastic.

My first flight was in Piper Seneca III G-KIDS back in 1981 out of Orsett. Think I might be having to buy one of these in 1/24!

There's a 1/24 Mk XIV conversion for the Airfix Mk IX in the pipeline too. A 1/24 Mk XIVe is my bucket list kit. I'll be having two of those!

Mine are in my cart good to go. Maybe yours will be ready tomorrow hopefully?

Yep! My back orders are showing as being in stock now. Honouring the original £50 back order price too. Looking forward to getting started on them.

I'm speechless. No really! Your build is a masterpiece. A thing of beauty and what a great subject to showcase your skills on. This and your Mk XIV Spit are my two favourites, and considering the lineage, a photo of them side by side would be awesome. I think I hear Mr Mitchell applauding from above. Cheers! Steve

@Troy Smith Thanks for the info and photos. Interesting stuff, and it seems that the only evidence of the colour of the numerals is by photo interpretation as this was omitted from the report. Indeed the photos do show what would appear to be black and that of course matches 5th Staffel's change in colour. Every book I have states red, including the more recent Luftwaffe Crash Archive series, so it's still doing the rounds. I do find it interested these facts weren't mentioned on the written report. I've got one for a Bf 110 that came down locally to me. Albeit brief, it does clearly described the colours of all letters and numerals as well as tactical markings. Shame this one doesn't really. As a colour scheme for a model, I do prefer the idea of red, but black is more than likely accurate for August 1940. On the other hand, being that the aircraft was an E-1, it's possible it was on Staffel strength during the previous March/April, and therefore I suppose red would be accurate pre colour change. Either that, or I entertain the idea of another scheme! I didn't get any of the Superkits back in the day. It wasn't for not wanting them, but the pocket money wouldn't stretch and my Christmas/birthday pleas went unheard. So I've been making up for it over the last several years and bought a few original boxings too just so I can admire the artwork and satisfy the inner child. I've been enjoying the 109s so far and the Spitfire too which despite a lot of folk saying it's a dreadful kit, I quite liked. Just needs treated for what they are. 50+ year old kits. I hear you on the paint. One of the reasons I've amassed a big collection of old enamel paints. Humbrol Authentics, Gloys, Compuclour, DBI etc. They cover so well, and perfect for brush painting too. The yellows were certainly better then, although I've found the recent Revell yellows to be pretty very good indeed. Cheers! Steve

@Pete in Lincs Thanks for checking in and glad to have you aboard! I hope the flask of tea is one of those tartan Thermos jobbies? @silverfox63 Thanks! I think the V-14 is the one I'm most excited about finishing. Such a nice colour scheme. I can't resist red aeroplanes. I think that artwork was the second incarnation of the big Airfix 109E. It's more my era and it's a very dynamic image that fuelled my then 10 year old imagination. It's just taken over 40 years for me to get around to building it! In other news, I've been working on the cockpit of "Red 14". The kit's cockpit is ok, but lacking a lot of details for such a large scale. One thing that jumped out at me were the rudder pedals which looked very under scale so I decided to have a go at scratch building them using the Kagero Bf 109E "Top Shots" book as reference. I can't believe these took me nearly three days to build and I counted 28 components for the set of pedals. Still, I think they look ok. I just need to make the rudder bar linkages now. I also wanted to replicate that hump on the cockpit floor just in front of the joystick which is missing in the kit. This is all still "works in progress". Of course, I had got this far when I discovered that the awesome Peter from Airscale had produced some fantastic resin cockpit accessories for this kit which I duly bought. I've used the control column, but will use the seat etc in the V-14 build. I had already started scratch building this, so I might as well use it I guess. The brass etch parts are from an "Old Etcher Fred" set that I bought years ago. The work so far fitted in "Red 14". Looks ok and I'm already thinking about the side walls, but should get this finished first. Ignore the gaps! It's just loosely fitted in. That's it for now. Here's the two fuselages side by side. "Red 14" at the rear, the V-14 at the front. You'll notice that the V-14 has had it's nose surgically removed. There's a plan here and I'll explain that in the next instalment. Thanks for looking! Steve

Well, I said I would be slow! I have spent the last several weeks re-riveting both kits with a Galaxy Tools riveting tool. A bit out of my comfort zone really, but the tool is pretty easy to use and only a few goofs occurred along the way. Done both fuselages, most of the wings and all the tail feathers. Disclaimer! I'm not sure why the photos have turned out this way, but the rivets look massive in these photos. Honestly, they look fine on the plastic in the flesh, and not at all like the massive divots that they appear to be in these pictures. Once liberally splattered with Mr Surfacer, they should look ok. First off, I tackled the wings and started filling in any panel lines and odd sink marks not needed for the V-14 with the trusty black super glue; Followed by hacking off the flaps and leading edge slats. Next up was the underwing cannon bulges which would have to go; Then a bit of plastic card to fill the gaping holes left over after some careful cutting; Final filling and sanding done and everything seems nice and smooth (I'm sure the primer will say otherwise) Both of the wing undersides of the V-14 done. The one on the left has been re-riveted using the plans from the MMP book. The wings for the E-1 are still in progress; Leading edge slats have been cut away. A bit of head scratching as to where I go from here with them, but looking the part so far; Another little thing I wanted to address was the lack of rudder trim tabs on the 1/24 Airfix kit. These have been added to both rudders; One final thing for the moment. I decided to start sorting out the cowling for the V-14 as it needs a bit of work to get it looking like it should starting with the kit part; Gun troughs need filled and the bulges removed and a fair bit of sanding required. There's also a bit of subtle re-shaping been done just in front of the openings at the front. Ready now for some scribing and starting work on the couple of hatches and the four latches plus the distinctive side intake; That's all for now. Thanks for looking and back soon with some more progress. Cheers! Steve

Last time I went to Hendon, the BOB hall was still in place. Dare I ask what's in it's place to ruin it? I was sad to hear that the BOB hall was going. After all, it's probably the RAF's most famous battle honour.

Thanks for all of the info, advice and replies. All duly noted. Seems that I shouldn't hold my breath on this one. @Dave Swindell Thanks. I did drop MFS a line asking if there would be a re-stock. They told me to keep an eye on the website, so hopefully the interest was logged. I can't be the only one that wants a Spitfire prototype in 1/48. Cheers! Steve

I think the 109 is a mock up. The biggest error on looking at that sequence from the film is that the canopy is hinged on the wrong side. Hardy Kruger exits the aircraft from the starboard side! There's also a lot of details missing that would exist on a real 109, and no sign of any panels or rivet patterns. The fuselage is completely smooth. The stowage door behind the pilot is also missing as well as the holes for the lifting point on the rear fuselage. The Revi gunsight looks very un Revi gunsight too. I think it's a replica, but I'm not knocking it as the studio did a great job.

Hi all! These two beasties have been kicking around in my stash for a few years now. It's one of those kits that I always wanted as a kid back in the late 1970s when I used to drool over that Roy Cross artwork of Helmut Wick's 109E high up out of reach on the shelf both physically and financially. I've had a nice 1970s classic boxing for years now, but the collector in me didn't want to touch it so it remained unbuilt. However, over the last few years, I managed to pick up a couple of the more recent releases at bargain prices and decided it was time to finally build these 1/24 classics. I actually have three on the go, but this WIP will concentrate on two of them. Just for nostalgia's sake, here is the wonderful artwork I drooled over as a ten year old; Cor! That's lovely! Makes me feel ten years old all over again, except with a bigger tummy, a Ford Mondeo and a tiny bit of disposable income. So these are the two kits that have been sitting in my stash staring at me for several years; Now be warned. I'm one of those types that can never seem to build a kit out of the box. I always feel obliged to mess around with it, hack it up and generally try to build it how the designer didn't envisage it being built. I just wish sometimes I could just throw the model together OOB instead of digging myself into large modelling holes that I end up burying myself in. This time though, I've been a bit reserved, so Bf 109E #1 will be back dated to an E-1 and will hopefully look something like this; It's the Bf 109E-1 W.Nr. 3367 of 5/JG 52 flown by Leo Zaunbrecher that was forced down in Sussex on the 12th August 1940. Don't know why, but I've always liked this scheme. Maybe it's the little devil emblem. I know there has been some debate regarding whether or not it should be Red 14 or Black 14. The period intelligence report says red, so I will be going with that. Bf 109E #2 is going to (hopefully) look something like this; I've always liked the Bf 109 V-14. It's a cracking colour scheme and I like the Ernst Udet connection. I happen to have the Meng 1/24 Fokker Dr.1 in Udet's colours, so this could be a nice double display. I found that Red Pegasus decals produce decals for D-ISLU in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32, so I reached out and asked if a 1/24 sheet would be possible and Greg from Draw Decal came up trumps. So thank you Greg! You made this project a viable proposition. I've not found a mountain of information on D-ISLU. There are a lot of differences between a standard 109E and the V-14. I've got most bases covered, but there are still a few grey areas. Maybe Lynn Ritger's forthcoming book may help. However, it does seem that the V-14 was based on either a 109B or D airframe so that helps a lot. The major blank I have is on the oil cooler under the nose. It's seems that was a lot deeper that a standard Emil. Anyhoo, I've waffled enough. Time to get building. One final warning though. My builds move at glacial speeds so I hope these get finished before my terminal trip to the CO-OP funeral parlour. Cheers for looking! Steve

Good God! That's beautiful Peter. I'm lost for words.

@LanceB Thanks for explaining the differences. I was unsure whether to buy the S.6A just because it's so similar to the S.6B kit, but I think I will anyway. 😁

Remembering well the mortal remains of Scion G-AEZF as I do, and helping shift the wings on a trailer to Coalhouse Fort (before it ended up at Medway), this release is very welcome and will be a must have purchase. Look forward to it.

Have to agree. I thought episode 5 was really well done. It's taken me a while to get into the series, but it feels like it's coming together now. I had a similar experience with The Pacific, but when I watched the series second time around I appreciated it so much more and what it was trying to achieve. I have a feeling my eventual re-watching of Masters will be the same.

I was under the impression that a fair few of the CASAs started life as German built airframes. Was the CASA 2.111 you were referring to the now Hawkinge aircraft? That certainly turned out to be a Heinkel built H-16 by all accounts.

Duplicated post!

@Michou Thank you sir! I didn't realise a piece of the aircraft still existed. I'm happy with the colour I need now. Thank you for the input.