Paul H

I've been giving this further thought and have done a lot more research in light of all the very useful info posted above - my findings and thoughts are included below, should these be of use / interest to anyone else considering a Comet kit. Unfortunately the Authentic Airliners kits are more than I am prepared to pay for 1:144, especially as Welsh Models' all resin variant in the same scale is quite a bit less and includes decals too. Turns out that Airfix's newest release does indeed have the fuselage windows filled in, but the portholes are now part of the decal sheet. The rest does seem very crude compared to the other injection moulded 1:144 kits though due to the lack of engraved panel lines. Interesting about the scaling issues of the Amodel - this review provides more info, as well as comparion to the Airfix http://www.modellversium.de/kit/artikel.php?id=11209 Incidentally, the German language wikipedia page for the Comet appears to have better dimension info than the English language one! As for fit, based on this build thread, the Amodel doesn't seem as bad as I thought: https://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=12305 It is certainly quite a dilemma, and I fully understand what you mean! I've now managed to find a few good build threads on it: From reading these and other threads, weak undercarriage does seem to be a theme which marrs an otherwise very interesting model. Whichever variant I go for will almost certainly be displayed on its undercarriage though. How did you find the undercarriage on the one you built, or did you replace it as others have? Thank you - I've done some research into the Frog one, and it does look pretty decent, but cannot find any available for sensible money. Good call on the diecasts, and certainly something to consider! Hadn't considered vac form kits, but prompted by your recommendation, what I've found out about these ones is certainly very positive - these links in particular about Welsh Models' Comets (both Comet 1s, but the only build links I have found so far): http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=4286 However the Comet 1 is probably more than I had in mind to spend, and their Comet 4 is certainly more than I can justify. They do look really tempting though! In terms of scale alone, 1:72 would mean it would display very nicely along side the Mosquito and Dragon Rapide that I already have (both part built) but would take up significantly more space than 1:144. However I don't see myself getting any other 1:144 planes, whereas also I have a few others in 1:72 waiting to be built. I've never done a vacformed kit before, but the Welsh Models ones sound so much better than my perception of the reputation that vac form kits seem to have. A Comet 1 rather than a 4 would also have a size advantage in 1:72 too, being about 100mm shorter... Mach 2's Comet - well, I still can find very little info, and comments from those who have seen it raise doubts over the accuracy of the wing and engine shaping. Whether those are things I would notice is another matter - the issue of flash etc and clean up required for a low volume kit doesn't bother me but the reported issue with the lining up of the cabin windows would certainly annoy me. As such, I think that combined with the issue of size (for storing / displaying), that is 1:72 scale ruled out for me. In 1:144, looking at the injection moulded options, it seems that the Amodel, despite being slightly underscale, is a good option for a 4, whereas the F-RSIN is the only choice for a 1, but with the questions over the undercarriage. In that company, and with it not being that much cheaper, Airfix's one is relegated to last place. Post 66 in this thread seems to summarize the Amodel's merits and flaws, especially compared to the Airfix one. In other media, the Welsh Models also do most variants of the Comet in 1:144, but would be more expensive. In 1:144, I am leaning strongly towards the Amodel, as the slight sizing issue won't be noticiable to me, and it's detail is high. I am reserving judgement on 1:72, as I want more info on the Mach 2 before deciding on whether their 4C or one of Welsh Models' offerings (probably a Comet 1) is the best option in that scale. There is also the question of whether 1:72 will fit my display cabinet... And then of course, which airline's livery to choose, which may well sway my final decision... I shall be blaming the friend who kindly lent me his copy of a book on the history of de Havilland, that was published in 1960, and which sparked my interest in the Comet. I was reading it purely to find out more about de Havilland's Gipsy engine as back in the summer I'd been helping him put a Gipsy II that he has just rebuilt onto the dyno in his test cell (for running in and airworthiness certification purposes prior to being reinstalled in its airframe). Anyhow, apologies for my rambling, and thank you to all again for your advice & suggestions.

Many thanks all - given me lots to think about and the extra suggestions are very appreciated!

I am looking at buying a model of a de Havilland Comet & would very much appreciate some advice as to which one to choose. From what I can make out, the options in 1:144 are the old Airfix 4B, Amodel 4B or 4C, and the F-RSIN Comet 1, whereas in 1:72, there is Mach 2's 4B. I have read individual reviews of each, and all clearly have their good (& not so good) features - e.g. Airfix has raised panel lines but seems to fit ok (at least for its age!), whereas Amodel has engraved lines but reviews suggest fit isn't great. However, I have not been able to find any direct comparison reviews between the 1:144 ones or build reviews of the Mach 2. I do not mind whether it is a Comet 1, or a Comet 4 - what I am after is a decent representation of a Comet, and one that is not going to take (too) much work to build, to display. With that in mind, which would be the best one to go for?

I haven't tried it, but I am told that Tamiya Nato Black (available as a spray can too) is a good tone of black for this sort of thing as apparently it is more a shade of very dark grey compared to most other black paints. There is I think also a tyre black which will probably again be a very dark grey. I am planning to use the Nato Black spray can soon to get the same effect you mention, but on an aircraft model (Airfix Motorhead Heinkel bomber).

Found this whilst searching for info on Airtrax kits - lovely work on the Estafette Please post up some pics of this too!

I wish that Fiat was the road car scale of 1:16 rather than the racing car / motorbike scale of 1:12. I do like Heller's E Type S1 3.8 OTS and FHC. Whilst they are very old, they are still pretty decent kits, and in fact excellent for their age. Also vastly superior IMHO in accuracy too compared to all other E Type kits in this scale, except the Gunze Sangyo S1 4.2 OTS (if you can even find one...). Whilst the headlights are not 100% perfect, they are far more correct than the slighty goofy box art suggests, and so much better than the old Revell OTS that was re-released not so long ago.

That does look like it could be a Silvers drawing, as it is the same style as the one I linked to, which is originally from a book on Silvers that was printed in period. As all were hand built in the traditional style unlike today's GRP moulded craft, the catalogue / brochure pics were essentially the default option but if the customer wanted alterations they were able to incorporate them easily. E.g. Kingfisher's interior layout is very different from that Silver Leaf GA I posted a link to, as she was built with an additional heads betweeen the owner stateroom and crew focsle, and the galley and main heads are located aft of the main saloon. There are also a load of things on deck which don't match either - again, could be customer request, or just later improvements by the builders to the original design. I share your view on the need for things to look right - my benchmark is whether something could have been fitted (or modified) in period by a knowledgeable owner, and this is the same line I am taking with a 52 year old Volvo I am (slowly) restoring, where any upgrades are all being / been done in a way that could have been added when new by the supplying dealer. It is possible that the smaller Silverettes didn't have them at all (or just left off that drawing for clarity...), but if you do want to add guard rails, I reckon that ones based around the size of Cervesa's side rails fwd of the wheelhouse, using the same position of the four vertical stantions but with painted stantions (and possibly a timber handrail), would be in keeping. Thinking about it more, I have just searched online quickly, and the guardrails on this Silverette look very appropriate, especially with the triangulating struts bracing each end stantion to the deck. Also seems that the Silverettes may not have had the timber hand rail cappings used on their larger sisters Thank you - don't hold your breath though! I have quite a few projects already on the go already. However I may start with a smaller half-model that the owners could keep on board if they wish, which may be ready for this time next year.

Codger, looking at the detailing, is that a very early one? That is such a period correct green I can easily imagine one that colour on Lamborghini's stand at a motorshow. Tyas - not seen purple on a Countach before, and that does looks smart. The '70s was a great decade for distinctive car colours!

Many apologies in advance if teaching you to suck eggs - watch out with some of the reference pics if you are building it to how such a boat would have looked at Dunkirk, as the s/s guardrails on Cervesa are modern upgrades & look very out of place. The ones shown along the foredeck topsides on your pic of Breda & also all rails on Kingfisher aside from the s/s pulpit are the correct style (in Kingfisher's case, I gather exactly how she left Silver's). I believe that Kingfisher may currently be having that modern pulpit removed to return her to the correct guard rail configuration around her bows (lines running from the foremost stantion forward down to the deck, keeping the stem clear - see this generic Silver Leaf GA for a clearer pic of the typical bow set-up). As it is, I know from personal experience that her modern pulpit is very much in the way when deploying or recovering the anchor. I will be following your build with great interest, as I may end up undertaking a similar project to build a model of Kingfisher in the not too distant future, scale yet to be decided.

I may have spoken too soon... The Airtrax paypal transaction was spotted, and there is now a strict ban on all kit purchasing for the foreseeable future. I think I can stick to that unless any of the following are released in 1:24/25: any Riley, a Volvo Amazon (injection moulded only - I already have both Airtrax's resin saloon & estate ones), an A-H Sprite Mk2, a '50s Armstrong Siddeley, a Lagonda (the '70s William Towns design), a Ferrari 400i, a decent Morris Minor (I know there are a few resin Minors from various sources, but none look quite right to me in any of the photos I have seen), and for non automotive, an accurate new tool Avro 504 in any scale, especially if to 1914 spec. However as any of the above are very unlikely, perhaps I should get off my backside and start CAD modelling them to 3D print at work...

Lovely! Do you have plenty of other reference pics to work from? If not, have a look at Kingfisher on the Sandeman Yachts sold pages. Whilst she's a bit bigger, as a 42' Silver Leaf, she is very original (focsle hatch, exterior helm & pulpit aside) so the pics should give a good idea of the appropriate deck details & fittings for a John Bain designed Silvers yacht of this age.

A second recommendation for the Patrick O'Brian Master & Commander books! I really enjoyed reading them over 20 years ago, and am about to re-read the whole series. The film acts as a pretty decent trailer to the 20 (or thereabouts) books. As for the size of the Type 45s, agreed! To put their size in perspective, they are not much smaller than the battleship HMS Dreadnought - a mere 27' shorter (500' vs 527' LOA) and only 12' 6" narrower (69' 7" vs 82' 1" beam). Something I hadn't appreciated until I saw the hulls from 1:700 scale kits of each side by side. As for Ark Royal, really enjoying each update to this thread, and the attention to detail being paid to getting everything just right.

ICM really are producing some great vehicles in 1:24, and I hope that they will scale up a few more of their 1:35 cars to this scale.

My thoughts are whilst that grey looks great on a late model Countach with the wing and flares, I reckon the brighter '70s colours such as orange, yellow, mid blue and line green really suit the simpler, unadorned versions much better.

What is this heresy? I thought I was being remarkably restrained. I would happily have bought another seven from the list, if I thought I could get away with it. However its a bit cold to sleep outside in my car at this time of year. They currently have about 70 kits listed, one of the recent releases being a Jaguar Mk VII which looks very nice in the photos but my 1:1 automotive tastes for this era are more to the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire and Riley RM & Pathfinder so that wasn't one of the seven.

I really must stop.... I've just ordered two Airtrax resin kits. Not cheap, but there are ones that I have been wanting for a very long time. They have loads of other great cars in their catalogue too, however I already have four other Airtrax kits, and I've only got around to starting one of them so perhaps I should actually build something.

Looking good so far! That orange does look good on Lamborghinis of this era.

As an Alpine, it is entitled to wear Alpine blue, and I reckon that anything darker would merge too much with all the black plastic trim. When I build mine, it will definately be Alpine blue - I am just hoping that the specially mixed spray can I have is still ok, but it is over 20 years old...

Many thanks for all the info - the Series 3 88" I have access to is very dismantled, so I would have missed things like the handbrake position & column stalks - haven't had the chance to photograph the gear & transfer box but intending to do so shortly as those moldings really need sorting out. The thing is that ESCI managed to produce a vastly more accurate & in scale front end set-up for their significantly older tooling Land-Rover kit (& also their Range Rover)- proper swivels, & links which could be built as either LHD or RHD underneath, and it all steers too, so Revell's one doesn't need to be anywhere near this crude. Their springs & axles are not great either. I don't know what Revell's reasoning is, but they have done similarly crude setups with the undersides of other car kits too (e.g. classic Mini, 2CV, Beetle) where others have managed to create significantly more accurate & in scale moldings, so I can only assume it is either company design policy for their vehicle kits to be this toylike underneath. Possibly they are trying to make the models more robust so they can survive being 'driven' around? I will certainly be contemplating cannibalising one of my ESCI / Italeri kits to fix this - possibly also liberate a suitable bonnet to run the spare up front. It really is a pity that Revell decided to cut corners there (from the point of view of tooling, I cannot see any notable cost implications), as the rest of the kit looks very good.

I gave in to temptation & bought the new Revell 1:24 Land Rover 109 station wagon earlier in the month, and last week, a 1:43 1950 Riley RMC Le Mans racer white metal kit. I'd like that to be done as the regular road car but it depends if I can handle scatchbuilding a windscreen and bumpers at that scale. I have another unbuilt 1:43 kit of an RM saloon (can't remember if its the 11/2 (RMA / early E) or 21/2 litre (RMB / F), but at that scale...) so I may use the bumpers off that as patterns to pewter cast a set at work. However, today two other kits have just arrived - Heller's 1:24 Citroen Mehari which was just too quirky to resist at £18, and also from the same ebay shop, a particular kit I had been wanting for a while, but managed to find new for just £25 - Aoshima's 1:24 Lamborghini Countach. This is the 5000 QV injection version, with the straked side skirts over the sills, but the sprues still have quite a few parts from other versions too, including two earlier sets of sills, one with the ends of the flared arches. I suspect that those will be used, as that will then make it close enough to the red Countach from Cannonball Run 2. I think the engine cover might not be correct for the year of the car in the film, but everything else needed for the exterior to look right seems to be in the kit, including the correct style wheels. I can't bring myself to build a model of the black one in the first film due to the horrendous front end modifications that I guess were for compliance with the US Federal regs of the time.

In additon to the recently commissioned QE & PoW which are being suggested there is lots of other nautical subject matter that Airfix should consider, but in 1:700 too, not just 1:350. I can also think of quite a few examples in their 1:600 range which are notably missing from the now industry standard 1:700 & 1:350 scales, at least as injection moulded kits, rather than resin. For example, RMS Mauretania (which could also be released with appropriate additional parts to produce its sister ship Lusitania), as well as the Type 12l Leander class frigates. Whilst an Edwardian era liner might not be mainstream enough for some, several Leanders served in the Falklands, and with suitible option parts depending on radar & armament & a comprehensive decal sheet, I reckon that one kit could have the build options to cover pretty much all versions as the difference between standard & broad beam batches is only 1.7mm at 1:350 (2' at 1:1) & thus negligible. The Leanders themselves & derivatives were also used by many other navies, so there is international appeal there too. However as long as I can build Apollo F70, then I'm very happy! Then there is the 'classic' Ark Royal (IV), probably the RN's most iconic carrier, which would fit very nicely in the range (at either 1:350 or 1:700) to complement the recent tooling 1:72 Phantoms & Buccaneers, especially if released in her 1970s fit out. I guess I can but dream...

Hi Steve, thank you, very much appreciated!

Just seen that the Pompey local paper has this document about HMS Prince of Wales on their website, & thought it might be of interest: https://epages.jpimedia.co.uk/full_page_image/page-1-123/content.html

I did email WNW a while back to suggest that an early 504 would fit nicely in their range, especially with its pedigree as being used for the first strategic bombing raid (also the first Allied crossing of the Rhine in the Great War) but only recieved a relatively generic email back so guess they are either not interested or playing their cards close to their chest. I am hoping that it is simply the latter. As they seem to like releases that tie-in with decorated airmen, the 504 fits that well since Squadron Commander E. F. Briggs received the DSO & Bar, Croix de Guerre avec Palme and the Legion d' Honneur for his exploits firstly in leading the raid, and also then later escaping from German captivity.

Found it & ordered one online - it's the May 1975 issue. Many thanks for the tip!